Venefirous
by Riddle Wraith
Summary: Harry awakes suddenly to find himself in a world of fog and little else. He comes across 8 teens fighting for their very lives, and as he finds out, the fate of the world as well. Upon discovering their battle he also discovers a power he never knew he had. The power of Persona. Now, Harry has to find out how he got here and why he's been missing from the world for so long.
1. The Fight and the Singing Basilisk

**Venefirous**

A Harry Potter/Persona 4 crossover fan fiction written by: Riddle Wraith

**Rating: **(Tentatively) R for language and violent situations

**Pairings:** None

**Warnings:** There will be dialogue from the end of Persona 4 here, so if you haven't beaten it and don't want part of the end spoiled, don't read this yet. If you don't care then go ahead and read.

**A/N:** The game's story starts on April 11th of 2011, so don't be surprised if things are a little odd for Harry. I'm not giving away a lot here if I can help it, but we'll just say that Harry's been in the t.v. world a lot longer than he thought. The last thing he remembers is getting back to Surrey from the end of his fourth year at Hogwarts, right after the Tri-Wizard tournament. That's in 1995, somewhere around June for those of you who haven't paid attention to the HP timeline. Harry is 15.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter or ANY of the Persona games, or any characters that exist in either of them or any of the original settings or ideas. Have I got all my bases covered? Looks like. Anyway, I own nothing but any OC's (which I don't plan to have) and the plot in this story. Well, parts of it. I also own no dialogue taken directly from the game, because there is some in here and I will not mark it clearly as it affects the flow of my writing just to stop and do that. You'll recognize it if you have played it (or if you were part of the production team). Everything you see here belongs to Atlas and whatever company owns Shin Megami Tensai in Japan.

**Warning. This has direct dialogue taken from the end of Persona 4. There is a reason for this, namely being this is the part of the story Harry comes in. I don't want to see any complaints about plagiarism because that isn't what this is. I didn't want to change much of the dialogue because I want it as close to cannon in both worlds as possible. If you try to report me when I've specifically stated this then we will have a problem. Got it? Good.**

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**Ch. 1: The fight and the Singing Basilisk**

He was floating. He opened his eyes, and all he saw was grey, all around. He blinked. Wasn't he just at Private Drive, "looking forward" to a summer full of forced labor until he was allowed to leave? Not that he was complaining on that front, but the last time he was in an unknown place he had watched his schoolmate die needlessly, was forced to participate in a blood-magic ritual to re-embody his most deadly foe, and after enduring a monologue from said enemy in front of the man's own followers, he was untied, given back his wand, and forced into a mockery of a duel for his life. Now, looking around him, he could see nothing nor feel a hard surface. He wasn't falling, and he definitely wasn't flying. He was just…floating. He did a full three-sixty degree turn and everything was the same. It was just grey fog. He floated there for what seemed like hours, occasionally hearing snatches of conversation seemingly out of nowhere. Where was he? Why was he here in the first place?

Who was it that was speaking, and where was it coming from?

"…_shadows…scared…duty…_" said an odd, male sounding voice. It was hard to discern what else was said.

"…_wants…that…you…_" said a female voice. He strained to hear more of the seeming conversation, but it didn't help much.

"…_remember…your shadow…enjoying…you…_" the same male voice said again, and he felt as if he were getting closer somehow. He could hear longer snatches of conversation.

"_Be careful…don't know…happening!_" he heard from a different male voice. It was higher, like this one was younger. He willed himself closer, and suddenly, he could hear the conversation as though he was right beside the speakers, although he could still see no one, and it appeared they couldn't see him either.

"You all saw shadows as mere monsters, didn't you? These things move on pure instinct! They go wild because you defy them! You annoying little brats are the ones who aren't wanted in the new world!" the older male voice said angrily, his voice somewhat distorted now for some reason.

"Speak for yourself! Living is too painful for you, but you don't want to die... Of course no one would understand! It makes no sense! You're just throwing a tantrum like a kid who can't have his way!" said a female voice, different from the first.

"People can't live alone. If you give in and sever your ties to human society, it will naturally become hard to live in it. Yet you refuse to face life and admit your fault, running from your own humanity like a coward. And though you claim to find life troublesome, you caused nothing but trouble for many others! Your twisted logic is that of an immature, egotistic brat!" said a seemingly genderless voice in a scolding way.

"Sh-Shut up! Stop trying to act all tough! You guys can't even stand on your own unless you deny everything I said! S-Stupid teenagers! You have no idea what kind of shit I've been through!" said the older male voice a bit hysterically.

""Favored by the world" my ass! I'm gonna say it flat out. You're just a worthless criminal!" said another younger male voice angrily. All of a sudden, something sounded as if it exploded, and then the fog in front of him cleared and he could see a mass of dark energy exploding out from a man who was facing a group of teenagers who were all holding different types of weapons. The man with the distorted voice screamed suddenly, and a girl with brown hair in pigtails spoke up.

"Here he comes! This will probably be our last battle... Let's hit him with everything we've got!" she said, and with that, the whole group readied their weapons and ran at the man, who was standing straight up again. The battle lasted for a good hour, and the teens looked exhausted by the time the man fell to his knees, clutching at his chest. The man started to speak again while clutching at his chest.

"D-Damn…this is lame. Ngh…Oh well. Our world's gonna disappear soon, no matter what. I didn't have anywhere to go back to anyways. Everyone's gonna become Shadows. Heheheh…urgh!" he said, suddenly lurching backward and freezing in an unnatural position. After a moment, something suddenly changed within him and he rose up smoothly, floating up a foot above the ground with his arms held out. He suddenly started radiating dark energy much more heavily than he had been, and his voice had changed drastically. "All humans…will become Shadows. And I shall descend upon the united world…as the master of order." He said, with a crazed smile on his face, which suddenly looked so much more sinister.

'They didn't defeat him? What is this guy?' Harry wondered, hoping that the exhausted looking teens could win. He didn't know what exactly was going on, but he did know that by the way this guy talked, he definitely did _not_ want him to win.

"Descend? Order? What's with this guy all of a sudden?" a male teen in a green jump suit with dirty blonde hair asked, shaking his head.

"What's happening?" a punk looking male blonde teen asked, backing up a step.

"Guys…this isn't Adachi! It's someone completely different!" the girl with the pigtails said, startled.

'So…this isn't who they thought it was? What's going on?' Harry wondered silently.

"Both this world and yours will soon be enclosed in a fog that never lifts. It will be the peaceful world that mankind has longed for…" said the apparent imposter, sounding just as self-important as Voldemort did during his monologue.

"Who are you?" asked a teen dressed in dark blues, who looked to him like a male but sounded vaguely more like a female.

"I…am Ameno-sagiri. One who rules the fog. One awakened by man's desires. Do what you will, but your world's erosion cannot be stopped. It is inevitable. You played your part well, stirring up the will of the masses into madness. But that will soon come to an end. Mankind will soon become Shadows and live on in the darkness of the fog, oblivious of their reality…" Ameno-sagiri said, the crazed smile covering his face once more.

"What the hell are you! Why are you doing this!" the dirty blonde teen asked angrily, his lip curling into a snarl.

"I am the one that shepherds humans to their true desires. Though their hearts longed for peace, it could never be attained…so they tore down the wall between image and reality. Indeed, this is the outcome desired by mankind. And mankind's desires are my desires. That is why I decided to expand this world…" Ameno-sagiri said, spreading his arms as he were trying to embrace the big empty space around him.

"Y-You're sayin' you're the one who created this nasty-ass world!" the blonde punk snarled, posing himself aggressively despite his fatigue.

"This is part of the sea of unconsciousness that exists within human hearts. A hollow forest born from bloated desire and false imagery. Humans do things as they see fit. They wish not for truth, but rather prefer the undesirables be hidden in fog. Still, humans fear what they cannot see. That brief yearning for truth becomes a ray of light which breaks the fog and torments the Shadows…" Ameno-sagiri said, his eyes glinting with an indiscernible emotion.

"That's why they attack and kill whoever's nearby at that time; A hollow forest. Then, this place isn't simply affected by people's hearts; it actually exists inside them?" A girl with long black hair wearing a red sweater and a black skirt asked, astonished.

"Mankind abandoned its pursuit of truth, placing itself in the depth of chaos and falsehood. Thus, my strength has grown, and the fog will not lift. Your world will be engulfed by the hollow forest." Ameno-sagiri said, sounding smug.

"Will you shut up already! We'll just use our power to beat the heck outta you, and it'll all be over!" said a girl with short light brown hair who was wearing a green sweater and a dark brown skirt.

"It was I who made it possible for you to bring about this destiny. I bestowed power onto those who could brave the hollow forest. That is what allowed you to come in contact with this world…And you all have done very well since." Ameno-sagiri said, pride coloring his voice.

""Bestowed power"…"Contact with this world"…You mean the power to enter the TV!" The black haired girl asked, sagging a bit from her own fatigue.

"Then, the Midnight Channel…Was that phenomenon also your doing!" the teen in blue asked, sounding a bit sick.

"Humans fail to see things as they truly are. They choose to see only what they wish. I acted only in support of this. A world filled with desires, viewed through a window, from which one sees what one wishes to see. Humans departed from reality of their own volition, craving more false images." Ameno-sagiri said, sounding disgusted.

"A window that shows people what they want to see…" the teen in blue said pensively.

"So that's why those who got famous suddenly appeared on the Midnight Channel, one after another. It was all in people's minds!" the girl with pigtails concluded, horrified.

"I have to say, it must be true. The Midnight Channel we saw in Namatame's hospital room…that kept bothering me since. What we saw there wasn't Namatame's true intentions at all…" the teen in blue said, suddenly sick.

"Then…it came on because we were all thinking, "This person must be the killer, he can't be forgiven"?" the black haired girl asked, now sounding horrified herself.

"Ngh…we let ourselves be deluded…" the teen in blue said, shaking their head disgustedly.

"Exactly. The more false images one yearns for, the more one stops yearning for reality. And so the forest grows on. That is the expansion of this world." Ameno-sagiri said gravely, and though Harry didn't know the whole situation, he felt a shiver run down his spine at the (man?)'s tone.

"Enough talk already! Long story short, you're the one behind all this!" the blonde punk said roughly, stepping forward aggressively, his weapon in hand.

"Yeah, I dunno who you are, but you're going down! People want to become Shadows! Their desire is your desire! To hell with that! When did we wish for that crap anyways! We kept fighting and fighting like morons to get where we're standing!" the dirty blonde teen said, his fists shaking as he clenched them.

'They keep mentioning these shadows. What are they?' Harry wondered silently, watching the scene with avid interest.

"Yes; That I did not foresee. The ability to master your own shadow that emerged to kill you, and use its power…A new and uncertain facet of mankind. Is it worthy to put my trust in, or not? It must be tested…" Ameno-sagiri said decisively. He then suddenly rose up in the air and a number of black creatures slam into him. After this, he sinks into the ground for a minute before rising out of it in the form of a giant sphere with an eye on it.

"So this…is the cause of all the fog?" the girl with pigtails asked, taking a step back.

"Indeed. I have come to put you all to the test. We shall see your worth." He said ominously, and Harry tensed. There was no way the teens could defeat this thing on their current strength. Without him noticing, a large shadow had risen up behind him in the form of a giant snake. It opened its mouth, and suddenly the air was filled with an eerily familiar song. The song of a Phoenix. It seemed that the teens and Ameno-sagiri heard it too, because they all looked around.

"What is that? Where is it coming from?" asked the teen with the dirty blonde hair.

"I don't know, but I feel great!" the blonde punk said, a smile crossing his face.

"Yeah. It's like our exhaustion just…disappeared." The black haired girl said with wonder.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" the teen in blue demanded, looking around though it seemed they couldn't see him.

"I…sense someone, but…I can't get a clear reading." The girl with pigtails said, looking in his general direction for a second before moving her eyes back to Ameno-sagiri.

"So, this one has the potential as well. It seems the newcomer has healed you all, so it was either a fluke or this one knows how to use his power. Which one is it, I wonder?" Ameno-sagiri said in an almost taunting voice. Harry dared not answer. Ameno-sagiri knew he was here somewhere.

'What did he mean, I have the potential? Is he seriously saying he thinks I healed them? I don't even know any healing spells! Besides, it had to have been the Phoenix song that healed them. Fawkes couldn't be here, because he would have helped me by now, but…I know it was a Phoenix song, because I remember how it sounds.' Harry thought, trying to figure out what happened.

':It was me, child.:' a voice said in Parseltongue in his mind.

':Who said that?:' he asked silently in Parseltongue without realizing he wasn't speaking English.

':It was I, child. I am your inner shadow, Venefirous. I have helped you because you have already fought my physical counterpart years ago and unknowingly harnessed my power with your victory over both my physical self and my poison. My power as your inner self is yours to do with as you wish. You may join the fight with those who share your power, or you may hang back and heal them when it is needed. The choice is yours.:' Venefirous said, curling himself protectively around Harry. Harry's eyes widened when he saw the form his shadow had taken. It was a Basilisk.

':Wait, what do you mean you sang the song though? That was a Phoenix song! You're a Basilisk! How…?:' Harry wondered silently, totally confused now.

':Well, now, this is just a theory, but I believe that when the Phoenix helped you to overcome my venom, that somehow incorporated some Phoenix abilities into my own. When I opened my mouth, I just knew I could do it, so I sang to heal this group because it is what you wanted to happen.:' Venefirous said, nodding as if agreeing with himself.

':Er, Okay, but then what should I do now? Should I fight?:' he asked silently, looking back at the group who were still glancing around warily for him.

"Well, as it seems he refuses to show himself, I will test you all in the mean time. Let us see if you are worthy." Ameno-sagiri said, gearing himself to attack.

"We're more than good enough to take you on!" the dirty blonde teen said, readying his weapon.

"Yeah! You're going down!" the blonde punk said, clenching his fist around the unusual weapon in his hand. A teen with unusual grey hair nodded in the affirmative, and suddenly the battle had begun. It seemed all had forgotten about Harry for the time being, and so he hung back, ready to heal the teens if need be.

"To defy me is a senseless act which goes against your world's wishes. Now, let everything vanish into the sweet fog of illusion." Ameno-sagiri said, retaliating as the teens attacked him with various weapons and magic.

"This is the end! This time, it's all over!" the girl with black hair said, blocking a magic attack from Ameno-sagiri with her weapon. After a few attacks, Ameno-sagiri spoke once more.

"No one wishes for the fog to lift. Why act against the wishes of your fellow man? Consider…is that truly just?" Ameno-sagiri asked, shaking his head. The teens ignored him and continued to attack. "How foolish; your actions will draw many back to suffering and strife. Why will you not understand this?" he asked, and the teens once again ignored him in favor of attacking. He was silent for a while, while the battle was going on, then he spoke again when his strength began to wane. "You fools! You have left me no choice! I will bring about the deaths of those who would keep true peace from the world!" He said with fury, and began to attack with a vengeance. Harry could see that the teens were becoming tired once again, and they had each collected numerous wounds, and so he turned to his shadow.

':Can you please heal them?:' he asked him in his mind. The shadow nodded, but spoke as well.

':I can but you must call out the attack this time, or magic in this case. Your desire to help them was strong enough last time that you unconsciously called me to heal them, but now that you know I am here you must verbally make the command.:' Venefirous said in his mind, and Harry nodded.

':Alright. What do I have to call out?:' he asked mentally.

':Look inside your own mind. It is here that I truly reside, after all. You will see all the commands you can give me and your own options, as even though you are on the outskirts, you are still in a battle.:' Venefirous said, and as Harry looked into his mind, his options suddenly became clear, and when he felt something drop into his hand, he looked down to find a card with Ven illustrated on it. Looking up, he saw that the giant snake shadow had disappeared and grinned. He knew what to do.

"_Phoenix Song_!" he called out, and with a burst of inspiration, threw it up in the air, whipped his wand out, and used a silent slicing curse to cut it diagonally in half, causing it to vanish. This caused a much clearer version of Ven to appear and sing right behind the tiring and injured teens. As he called out his command, every one of the combatants looked back just in time to see his shadow emerge and start to sing, with his eyes closed obviously. As the song filled the air once again, the teens healed once more and Ameno-sagiri let out a scream of rage. When Ven finally reappeared as a card in his hand, the giant one-eyed creature glared at him while the other teens took the opportunity to look at him curiously and somewhat warily.

"Cease your interference! This test is not for you!" Ameno-sagiri said, still glaring at him. Harry was feeling quite brave, as the creature wasn't looking so good after how long the battle had been going on. He raised an eyebrow, crossed his arms, and retorted.

"What are you, a teacher? Am I helping them cheat?" he asked mockingly, running his eyes over the teens in a brief glance before returning them to the immediate threat. He could hear a few of them snickering. Ameno-sagiri frowned, or at least, Harry thought he did.

"You have much potential, but you do not belong in this world. Leave, interloper, before I am forced to eliminate you." The creature said, and the teens spoke up.

"We won't just let you hurt him!" the short haired girl in green said, outraged.

"Yeah, he helped us when he could have stayed hidden like a coward. You'll have to get through us first!" the blonde punk said, and the grey haired teen nodded in agreement.

"I believe I speak for all of us when I say the sentiment is shared. You will not harm him." The teen in blue said firmly, raising their gun and firing the first shot that restarted the battle. Harry was surprised they were defending him so quickly, but he definitely wasn't unhappy about it by any definition. It only took a few more attacks to finish the battle, and though the teens had acquired a few more wounds, they weren't too much worse for the wear. Ameno-sagiri geared up to speak again as he was no longer in any shape to attack.

"I see." He said, looking all of the teens, including Harry, over. "Your powers are strong. Power comes from the heart. You have proven to me human potential." He said with pride. Why would he be proud of the ones who had beaten him? "Very well. I will lift the fog from the place where you will return to. Mankind's desires are my desires. If mankind so wishes, I will return at any time." He said in warning, glancing over them all again. "I am always at your side, watching…" he said ominously, and a teen with Luna blonde hair spoke up in a surprisingly annoying voice, given his obvious good looks.

"Well don't wait up! We'll keep that from happening no matter what!" he said firmly, startling Harry who was not used to seeing someone with that hair color sound so serious.

"Time will show the path humanity takes, children of the new potential." He said mysteriously, before seemingly turning back into the man they were fighting before, who promptly fell to the ground.

'Was he possessed?' Harry wondered silently, while asking himself why he hadn't thought of that before. Then, another thought popped into his head. 'He said 'children of the new potential'. What does he mean by potential exactly? He said it in such a way that he couldn't have been using it in the general sense. Did he mean the power to summon our shadows? I know those other kids can do it too; I saw them. Maybe that is what he means.' Harry thought pensively while the other teens started to speak whilst looking down at the man lying pathetically on the ground.

"You think…it was controlling Adachi-san?" the short haired girl in green asked, looking disturbed and troubled by the thought.

'Hmm, I may have been right.' Harry thought, still watching the teens who seemed to have forgotten he was there.

"Who can say? I believe it was at least partially his own intention as well." The teen in blue said with disgust, eyeing the man as though they would rather be away from him. Everyone walked over to the man on the ground, who had rolled himself onto his back. The man sighed, but didn't look at any of them as he spoke.

"So that's it, huh?" he asked, defeat lacing his voice heavily. The teen in blue looked like they wanted to say something, but didn't. "Fine. Live however you want. If you think you have the power to change the future, go right ahead." The man said tiredly, still lying on the ground and looking up at the odd sky which Harry noticed had cleared of fog somewhat, though not much. The teen with dirty blonde hair just shook his head at the man.

"Everyone has the power to do that." He said firmly, as though trying to convince the man. The man just chuckled.

"Get out of here. The shadows will finish me off. Just leave me be; you came to kill me in the first place, didn't you?" he asked, finally looking around at the teens from his position.

"No, dumbass!" the blonde punk snarled, as though the man had personally offended him.

"If we leave you here dying and a dead body eventually appears, then what? What's that accomplish for anyone? Your stupid game's over. We're taking you back. Live and face your punishment. That's how it works in our world." The teen with the dirty blonde hair said with a glare at the man on the ground. There was a pause before the man spoke again.

"Right." He said shortly, and the teen dressed in blue spoke up.

"I'm sure that's the outcome Dojima-san wishes for as well." The teen in blue said quietly, and as the teens stood together, something seemed to pass between them and the grey haired teen shifted a bit. Harry decided he'd been silent long enough.

"Um, do you guys happen to know the way out of this place?" Harry asked, and all the teens started. It seemed they all had forgotten about him. And when they looked at him, they noticed he was still floating, which Harry really hadn't thought about. One of the teens decided to point it out.

"Um, dude…you're floating. How are you doing that?" the blonde punk asked, curiosity plain on his face as on the other teens' as well.

"I think it has something to do with my shadow." Harry said, looking down to see that he was indeed still floating even though the other teens were standing on an obviously solid surface. "Come to think of it, what are you all standing on, and how did you get through all this fog?" he asked, puzzled. The teens looked at each other.

"You got through the fog without being able to see through it?" the teen in blue asked, and Harry tilted his head to the side, glancing around briefly.

"I just kind of woke up here and I've been…floating around ever since." There was a question in his voice, as if wondering how he was floating. Even if it was on his own shadow's power, he obviously had no wings. "Wait, does that mean you all can see through the fog? How? It's so thick that the only things I can see defined clearly are you guys and that big monster thing that was here." Harry said with a shrug, and the teen with Luna blonde hair spoke up next.

"Hold on, I think I have an extra pair of glasses you can wear." He said, digging around in his seemingly small pockets and fishing out a pair of silver, wire rimmed glasses and tossing them to him. Harry caught them and put them on, surprised to notice he didn't have his own on yet he could still see the other teens at least clearly defined even without these glasses that could supposedly filter fog. Hmm, maybe his shadow's power had fixed his eye sight? There was no real way of knowing until he was able to leave this place, but with the glasses on the place was quite a bit clearer. He looked around in interest, but before he could get too deep into thought, the teen in blue spoke up again.

"We should leave before more shadows find us. Come on, let's grab Adachi-san and get the hell out of here." They said, and then turned to Harry. "Follow us if you want to find the way out. We've been coming and going from here for a while so we know the area." And with that, the teen with dirty blonde hair and the blonde punk grabbed the man who was apparently Adachi and dragged him along with the group. Harry, finding that he could control his floating, as it were, followed them without having to walk. Maybe the floating was some odd part of the Phoenix powers? When they finally stopped, which seemed like it had taken an hour, they were at a place that looked oddly like a television studio. One by one the teens started…going through a set of triple stacked televisions. Harry blinked. Yes, okay so he went through a brick wall every time he went to school, but this?

Seemingly ordinary muggle televisions were portals out of this strange world? Harry sighed.

'I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I'm already in a strange situation and have strange new powers that I've found out others have as well. Even if something seems strange for me, it's probably every day for them.' Harry thought, shaking himself out of his thoughts as he saw the teen in blue was the last one left to go through besides him, and they had turned toward him.

"Come on, I'll show you how to leave." The teen said, and Harry nodded, floating toward him/her. Harry shook his head mentally. He was going to have to learn what gender this person was sooner or later, but it seemed rude to just ask. "By the way, my name is Shirogane Naoto. I'm a detective working with the Inaba police department to catch the culprit of a series of strange murders that has been taking place. As you can see, the culprit has been caught. My point of telling you is that we can help you get home from wherever you came from, as you obviously aren't from Inaba." Shirogane said, and Harry smiled weakly.

"And…what country is Inaba in?" Harry asked, and Shirogane looked at him strangely for a moment before answering. "In Japan. I thought you would already know this, seeing as you're speaking Japanese." Shirogane said, looking a little suspicious now.

"I'm…speaking Japanese? I thought we were all speaking English." Harry said, nonplussed. Shirogane looked at him thoughtfully.

"You speak Japanese fluently, as if you were born into it, but you don't have the specific accent of any region. In fact, you seem to be a mix of most of the major accents. That's very…odd." Shirogane said, and Harry shook his head internally again. It almost seemed the same as when he first spoke Parseltongue in front of essentially all of Hogwarts. He hadn't known he was speaking a language other than English until someone else had told him.

"Well, maybe I have some strange type of amnesia or something. I remember everything from my life, but maybe I forgot a few months when I was learning Japanese and kept the knowledge itself?" Harry asked, and then shook his head. "It's a long shot, but very strange things have been known to happen to me. I'm famous for it." Harry said that last part in a mutter, but Shirogane heard him.

"Famous? What's your name?" Shirogane asked, and Harry sighed as he prepared to tell another person his name, although this person shouldn't be a fan considering the fact that the teen seemed to be nothing more than a muggle with strange powers.

"Harry Potter." Harry said, and prayed to whoever might be up there that no one recognized the name. "Or I guess, Potter Harry, considering where I am." Harry said, smiling weakly again. Just then, a head poked through the television. It was the girl with pigtails.

"The police are coming, Naoto-kun. You two need to come out here before they get here to see you coming out of the television. The coast is clear for now." She said, and with that her head disappeared.

"Let's go then Potter-san. We can talk more later." Shirogane said, and with that the teen gestured toward the television. "You got in here somehow, so you should be able to get out through these televisions. Put your hand on a screen and see if it goes through. If it does, you can probably leave. As far as we know, anyone with the power of Persona can do so without assistance." The teen said, and Harry looked at him/her blankly. "Oh, you didn't know it by that, did you? I meant the power to control your shadow. We call it Persona as it seems to be our inner selves." Shirogane said with a small blush, and Harry wondered why. Harry nodded nonetheless, though, and placed a hand on one of the screens. He was surprised to see that it rippled and it felt like water, except it was dry. His hand went through effortlessly. Shirogane nodded. "Good. Step through then. This stack of televisions is used as a sort of doorway, and we come out through a huge television in the electronic department of the local mall." He/she explained.

"Er…maybe I should try to come down first?" Harry said, looking at the ground. As he thought it, he started to drift closer to the ground until he was standing on it. Harry just shrugged and decided to figure out the extent of his new power later. With his shoulders squared, and sincerely hoping that he didn't just run into the televisions, he walked forward and through the stack. As with his hand, his whole body felt as though he were walking through water, though he could breathe and he knew he was still dry. When he emerged, he looked at the other teens, who looked back at him. The girl with pigtails broke the silence.

"You were in there an awfully long time alone with Naoto-kun. Are you her boyfriend now?" the girl asked sweetly, although Harry could tell she was teasing.

'Ah, so Shirogane is a girl. Okay. At least now I know without having to ask.' Harry thought, blushing at the girl's question. Before he could answer, Shirogane emerged from the t.v. as well and glared at the girl with pigtails.

"I was explaining how to leave to him and asking him some basic questions, Rise-chan. I would suggest minding your own business." She said coolly, though there was a blush staining her cheeks as well. Before anything else could be said, police entered the department to take Adachi away. Harry sighed. This was going to be a long day for him.

End Ch.


	2. Welcome Back to the World

A/N: I've only heard about the part with Izanami and I've never gotten to it, so I'm going with the generic Adachi/Ameno-Sagiri ending because it's familiar territory and I know what the hell's going on. Btw, I'm placing this chapter on December 23rd 2011 because that's when I ended this part of the game last and there's no real set date as long as you end it before December 31st I believe. Please, don't be picky about exact dates. I'm trying to be as exact as possible without ruining the flow of the story. I know that he leaves on the train to go back home on March 21st of 2012 so I'm giving myself a bit of artistic license between the now and that time in the story. I may add in the Izanami part if I can ever get to that part in the game. As it is, right now I do not now how to achieve that particular outcome. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Here's chapter 2.

P.S. Please don't give me crap about me making Dojima the DCI here. I was given the impression during the game that he was important in the department, although I don't remember how important, and he does have the title of detective. I'm just taking a bit of creative license here as well. If you have some serious problem with it, or if you know his actual position and are willing to tell me, I can come back and fix this and will do so gladly. I'm playing back through but small details like that tend to slip my mind most of the time. Anyway, sorry for the long author's note, and to let you know, although I will be trying to constantly write this because it's my baby right now, I won't always be able to update in a timely manner. Things happen and life goes to hell sometimes. It just so happens that my grandma is dying of cancer, so if I don't update for awhile because of that, I'll let you know what's going on and when to expect the next update. As it is, I will be posting this with more than a week in between updates, but for the most part it will be weekly on Fridays. I will attempt to have the next chapter written before next Fridays and post it then. Much love.

RW

* * *

**Ch. 2: Welcome Back to the World**

As they all made their way out of the shopping complex and to the police station to be questioned, Harry couldn't help but feel a sense of profound dread. Besides the fact that everything looked different because he was obviously in a different country, he started to notice smaller things that were not quite right as well. Technology seemed quite a bit more advanced than he remembered. While Japan, or at least Tokyo was usually the leader in technology when it came to advancements, this was a bit too advanced for even that. Cellular phones were nothing like the clunky ones that he remembered seeing, not that he'd seen many as only the more well off had the money to have them at the time.

Needless to say, by the time they reached the police station, he was in a light state of shock.

'Calm down. This probably isn't what it looks like. I'm probably just having a _really_ weird dream. There's no way I could have time traveled to an unknown year in the future. I had no access to a time turner or any device like it. It's fine. Even if it isn't a dream, all I have to do is tell them where I'm from and my name. They're police; they'll easily find my relatives and ship me back off to them in no time.' he thought, and even though he hated the idea that he had to go back to those people, it was something familiar at least.

"Potter-san? Are you okay?" Shirogane asked, looking concerned though not overly so.

"I think...I'm a long way from home." he said faintly, following automatically as an officer directed he and the rest of the teens to an office. As they all took seats around a confrence table to wait, the blonde punk spoke up.

"This has been one really messed up year." he said with a shake of his head, and the other teens nodded in agreement while Harry was only barely listening.

"Oh, we haven't even introduced ourselves, have we?" the girl with long black hair asked, causing Harry to turn his attention back to them instinctively. When Harry shook his head, though he knew it was a rhetorical question more than anything, they took turns introducing themselves.

"Well, I'm Amagi Yukiko and I'm 17 years old. My parents run an inn in down town Inaba." the long black haired girl said with a smile.

"I'm Tatsumi Kanji and I'm 15 going on 16 in less than a month. My mother runs a textile shop in the shopping district of Inaba." the blonde punk said, nodding to the next person to go ahead.

"I'm Narukami Yu and I'm 17. I'm fairly new around here. I moved in with my uncle, who is the Detective Cheif Inspector around here, and his daughter about a year ago." the grey haired teen said, prompting the next person.

"As you know, my name is Shirogane Naoto and I am 16 years old. I'm a detective and I help the police out around here from time to time." Shirogane said, surprising Harry though he tried not to show it.

'She's really a detective at this age? That's pretty impressive.' he thought, before turning his attention to the next person to speak.

"I'm Hanamura Yosuke and I'm 17. I'm pretty new here too. I moved here with my parents about six months before Yu-chan did because my dad's the manager of Junes, the mall we just came out of." the teen with dirty blonde hair said, leaning back in his chair.

"I'm Satonaka Chie and I'm 17. I've lived in Inaba my whole life, so if you ever need anyone to show you around just let me know." the girl with short light brown hair said, giving him an easy smile.

"I'm Teddie, and I'm Yosuke-chan's cousin. I only just moved here a few months ago." the teen with Luna blonde hair said, sounding more chipper than he had any right to be after what had almost just happened.

"I'm Kujikawa Rise and I'm 16. I was a model but I quit due to the stress of the lifestyle and I moved back to Yasoinaba. I live with my grandmother who owns a tofu shop called Marukyu, which is located in the shopping district of Inaba." the girl with brown hair in pigtails said, finishing the introductions which cued Harry to make one of his own.

"My name is Potter Harry and I'm 14 going on 15 in about 2 months." Harry said, only just preventing himself from slipping up and having to say his name backwards from what he was used to. "I came from England, but it is my understanding that I am currently in Japan. I'm just a regular school age kid, except for the fact that strange things always seem to happen to or around me." Harry said wryly, lying only slightly as he didn't know whether this was a dream or not and wasn't about to tell a group of people he just met that he was a wizard.

"I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say that it's nice to meet you, Potter-san." Shirogane said, and the others nodded in agreement.

"It's nice to meet you all as well. After we leave here, can someone please explain to me exactly what the hell went on today? I seriously _just_ woke up in that world before you fought that thing you fought and I've had no prior experience with strangeness on _this_ level before." Harry said truthfully. Magic was one thing, but strange creatures called shadows and a world inside the television? That was weird even for him.

"Sure. It's not a problem." Narukami said with a shrug. Harry nodded his thanks just as an older man who looked a bit like Narukami walked into the room, looking around at the teens before he came to Harry, who he shot a curious look at before closing the door and addressing the room.

"I've just come from the interrogation of the...perpetrator of the recent murders, and he told me a very interesting and unbelievable tale. Without hearing what he has said, I would like you all to tell me your version of events. If something like this is to be believed, it will have to be corroborated by all of you individually, which means I will be questioning each of you thoroughly before you will be allowed to go home. I hate to do this to you, but it's procedure and it's best that I follow it strictly considering who the perpetrator was. Are we going to have any trouble with that?" he asked, and as one the teens denied it, even Harry. "Good, now; Yu, I want to question you first. Come with me." he said, and the two left the room, leaving the atmosphere noticeably more tense than it had been. Harry sighed quietly and tried to relax. There was no reason for him to be tense, really, except for the fact that he didn't know how much to tell them. What muggle policeman would believe that he had just come out of a strange world through a television in the local mall's electronics department?

Harry would have laughed had he heard that statement anywhere else, but as it was he didn't feel much like laughing. He felt more like being sick, but he took deep breaths and restrained himself. He'd had a lot of training when it came to keeping himself from being sick, considering he always felt sick when he finally got some food after a long while had gone without him eating anything. He'd had to restrain himself to keep all of the nutrients his body could get. That, and he had learned the hard way that if he threw it up, not only would he have to clean it, but he would get nothing else to replace it and he would go hungry again for longer the next time around as a punishment for wasting food. Sometimes, he wasn't even sure how he survived, but he supposed that his magic stepped in sometimes to make sure he didn't die. Still, he felt his stomach trying to rebel as dread settled in it like a weight, heavier than it had earlier. Somehow, he knew something was wrong. He had instincts to be sure, and he'd had feelings about certain things that had turned out to be true, but this was different than either of those. This was stronger and it sat on his mind like a phone ringing, constantly calling for his attention.

'God, what's happened? I just know that whatever I hear here isn't going to be good.' Harry said, breathing heavily though he tried to calm himself down. He waited, tense and nervous for his turn to be questioned. The detective that was related to Narukami took each of the other teens in turn and when he came back into the room for the next person he didn't bring the others back. Harry could only assume they were free to go after questioning and he was anxious to get his over with. When he was finally the last one left in the room, he was escorted by the detective into a smaller room with a single table that held what Harry could only assume was a voice recorder on it. It didn't seem to need a tape, but it looked like one. On the wall was one of those mirrors that Harry was pretty sure was really a one-way window through which the interrogation of suspects could be observed by unknown parties.

"Sit down." Dojima ordered, and Harry obeyed right away. He wanted this over and done with. As Dojima proceeded with the preliminary process of turning the recorder on and stating who he was, what he was doing, who he was interrogating, and the date and time, they got down to business. Harry told him honestly everything he could remember, leaving out only his use of magic. After the official questioning that had to do with the case was done with, Dojima skipped ahead a bit on the digital recorder and started with a new round of questions.

"Is Potter Harry your real name?" he asked, and Harry blinked, before nodding.

"Yes. I have no reason to provide a fake name." Harry said, and Dojima nodded in confirmation before moving on to the next question.

"What is your age and birth date?" he asked, and Harry went about reciting the information.

"I am 14 years old, going on 15 in about 2 months. I was born July 31st, 1980." he said, and Dojima raised an eyebrow at him.

"Would you like to say that again young man?" he asked, and Harry blinked, taken aback by the sternness in his voice. His dread grew.

"Okay. I am 14 years old, going on 15 in about 2 months. I was born July 31st, 1980." Harry said again, and judging by the stormy look on the detective's face, he'd said something wrong.

"Just what game are you playing son? This is serious business. You are in a police station being questioned by a DCI and I assure you I am not here for amusement." he said, and Harry blanched.

"I swear I'm not playing anything detective. Look me up. My name is Harry Potter, and last I remember, I lived at Number Four Privet Drive, Surrey in the United Kingdom. There have to be some records of me along with a picture. I lived with my relatives. Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley." Harry said earnestly, and the detective gazed at him for a long moment before nodding and standing up.

"I will go check the records while you remain here. While I don't believe you, I'm willing to humor you since you really seem to think you're telling the truth." he said, and Harry's heart dropped. It seemed his feeling of dread was spot on. Something was horribly wrong here. Why was the detective so unwilling to believe him about his birth date? Did he truly travel in time? Was he younger or older than he should have been? Judging by the technology he'd seen so far, he'd have to say that he went forward if the time-travel theory were to be believed. When the detective returned, he looked seriously perturbed. "According to this, you do indeed look like who you claim to be. The problem is that while you say you're 14, you should be 31 by now. These records show that you disappeared back in 1995 near the beginning of June. Are you telling me that you remember nothing from the almost 17 year span you were gone? That you just woke up in this crazy world that you, my nephew, his friends, and the perp all claim is real with no memory of how you got there or what happened to you?" he asked, and Harry swallowed down the bile that came up at that particular revelation.

"I..." Harry was speechless at this as it processed. He'd been missing for almost 17 years. He had left the wizarding world to deal with Voldemort on their own. What kind of state were they in now?

"Potter-san? Can you confirm everything I've just asked you?" Dojima asked, feeling slightly guilty about pushing the kid. He was already pale, and he looked about ready to be sick. It must have come as a real surprise to him as well. Finally, Harry nodded. Dojima looked at him apologetically before speaking again. "I need you to audibly confirm it for the record, Potter-san." he said, and Harry took a deep breath.

"Y-yes. As far as I know, that is what happened. The last thing I remember before waking up in that world is falling asleep in my bed at my relatives on June 2nd of 1995. I remember nothing about the time during my absence. I don't know where I was, who may have took me, or how my age was preserved as it is." Harry said, trying to keep himself together. He hadn't cried since he was very small, and he wasn't about to break down in front of a stranger. Especially as said stranger was a detective with a recording device that was recording right next to him.

"As strange as this all is, I'd have to say that I believe you. It isn't the strangest story I've heard today." the detective said, shaking his head in dismay. After suitably pulling himself together, Harry decided that he may as well find out exactly where and when he was now.

"Can you tell me exactly where I am and the date?" Harry asked hesitantly. Dojima nodded, not looking surprised in the least.

"Yes, you are in a small rural town called Inaba in Japan. That reminds me; you are speaking Japanese fluently. Did you learn it back home?" he asked, and Harry shook his head.

"To be honest, I don't know how I'm speaking it. I didn't know I was speaking Japanese until Shirogane-san pointed it out to me. I'd honestly thought I was speaking English." Harry said, copying the san as he assumed partially correctly that it was supposed to said after a name, though he didn't know why. Dojima looked at him for a long moment before nodding.

"Odd, but I'll buy it. Oh, you asked the date as well. It's December 23rd 2011." He said, and Harry paused briefly at that before shaking off his surprise.

"Wow, it really has been a long while. So, what's going to happen to me then? I'm probably declared legally dead which means any money I had is gone and I'm not old enough to live on my own." Harry said, pondering his options, which admittedly looked limited.

"For now, you're going to be put into the orphanage right outside Inaba while we try to look for your former guardians to see if they would be willing to take you in again. Failing that, you will either stay in the orphanage and attend school here or you will be adopted and attend school wherever your new family lives. Is that acceptable?" He asked, and Harry sighed.

"I don't really have much of a choice." he said with a wry smile. Dojima nodded in agreement and stood from his chair.

"Seeing as you don't know how you learned Japanese, I'm going to assume you know nothing about our culture. My nephew will be happy to tutor you in our culture and to make sure you're caught up to where you're supposed to be school-wise. Are you okay with that?" he asked, and Harry nodded. Seeing as he hadn't attended muggle school in a few years, it would be good to make sure he was caught up to where he was supposed to be before he started high school next year.

"That would be great. Thank you." Harry said with a grateful smile, pushing back his feelings of shock until he was alone and standing as well. Dojima stopped the recording device and led them out of the room. As Harry didn't exactly know where to go, he followed Dojima until the man called for one of the other detectives to get him a car. Dojima himself then drove Harry to the orphanage mentioned prior.

"Here we are. I'll go in with you and explain the situation." Dojima said, and Harry nodded in agreement. He did just that, and before Harry knew it, he had a room. Harry turned to Dojima once they were left alone and smiled genuinely.

"Thank you, for everything." he said, and Dojima nodded, his stern face a bit softer.

"Welcome back to the world, Harry-san." he said, before taking his leave and leaving Harry to his own devices. With that, Harry decided to turn in for the night, the smile never quite leaving his face as he did.

End Ch.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for leaving this, but I decided to start writing on it again and I got distracted by playing the game. Here it is though, on Friday as promised at the beginning of the chapter. I'm going to start working on the next chapter tomorrow. I apologize for this one being shorter, but I just wanted to get it out. I'm not entirely happy with it, but I don't feel that I can exactly rewrite it right now either. Anyway, tell me what you think.

RW


	3. Skills and Junior Detectives

A/N: OMG I am SO sorry for this being as late as it is. After posting this, I'm going RIGHT back to working on this to see if I can get you all a chapter before I have to leave for three weeks to sleep in a tent in the desert in California. (No joke, that's seriously what I have to do on the 28th.) I'm going to be gone for training with the military, but I'm going to see if I can buy a notebook and some pencils so I can at least write down ideas I have for the next chapter, if not more of the story I have itself. If I do have any story by the end of that, which I wouldn't be surprised if I do, I'll type it all out and post it on Fridays as per usual. You can expect any other updates to be on Fridays as well. The only reason this one is off is because I only just got the inspiration to finish this chapter today, hence it is posted late. I didn't want to make you all wait until next Friday, but after my three weeks, the chapters will probably be every other week rather than every week if I can swing that. I'll try not to lose my inspiration, but if I miss an update day, please understand that sometimes I just can't think of anything to write down. Anyway, love you all. Thank you for reading. ^_^

P.S. If you spot any mistakes, please let me know. I am currently without a beta reader, and even though I'm a Grammar Nazi myself, I will admit that I don't know everything, nor can I catch everything.

RW

**Ch. 3: Skills and Junior Detectives**

When Harry awoke, he shook his head to clear it of the odd images that his dreams had shown him. He was dreaming of that world; the one beyond the television. He could only remember bits and pieces of them, and as a result he only saw broken images that made no sense to his conscious mind. With a sigh, he got up from bed and started the day. He didn't know when Dojima planned to ask his nephew about the tutoring, but until then he'd bide his time here. It looked like most of the children that were here were really young, which meant that any school ages kids were in school by now.

Harry didn't know why, but he felt older than he had when he went to sleep yesterday. He'd looked in the mirror that morning and he knew that he wasn't any older physically, but mentally, it felt like he had lived for years past what he had. He could say that he felt nearly the age he was supposed to be, except for the fact that he didn't really get the life experience that came with that seeing as he'd most likely been in that world the whole time he was missing. He felt, however, that something was there, in the back of his mind, waiting for him to acknowledge it.

It felt like an itch he couldn't scratch, almost, and it bothered him. Only, when he _tried_ to scratch it, he was assaulted with scattered images he neither recognized nor understood. It took Harry a few moments to realize that he may have been seeing things from his supposed missing memories. He'd at first assumed that he'd been asleep that whole time, but it seemed, since these images could be nothing else that he could think of, that he had not been. It was like the memories had been blocked out, but for what purpose he had no idea. It frustrated him that he didn't know, though. They were _his_ memories! Why _shouldn't_ he have them?

To relieve his frustration, he tried to take his mind off his missing memories by taking a self-led tour around the orphanage since it was still about an hour before they served breakfast. His feet led him to a room that could only be an entertainment room for the orphans. Currently, none were in it and it was somewhat of a relief that he could sit and not be bothered by small children. He plopped down onto the couch and sighed. He wondered how long it would be before the smaller children would get used to him and thus probably not leave him alone. He didn't have any real problem with children per se, but he'd never really had to deal with them and he wouldn't know what to do when he had to.

Before he knew it, the hour passed and he had to get up and find his way to the cafeteria if he wanted any food. He went about his day in a normal muggle fashion as he was used to doing at his relatives, albeit with less chores as the orphans were still assigned some to 'teach them some responsibility'. By the end of the day, he was quite a bit less tired than he would be had he had an average day at the Dursleys'. He really hoped that they either couldn't find the Dursleys or that they wouldn't be willing to take him back. He felt like he could have a real chance at a 'normal' upbringing here as compared to the Dursleys where he was hated and hated them in return.

He found his feet leading him to the entertainment room once more, which was now filled with children. Soon enough, however, after what seemed like hours surrounded by screaming children, the caretakers came in to put all the children but Harry and the few older ones to bed, as the younger ones had an earlier bedtime. He was soon enough left alone with the few older school age ones that the orphanage still held, and they all sat down to watch a movie. Harry, having never actually been allowed to see one before, decided to stay and watch it as well. He was soon mesmerized by the story and how good the television looked as compared to how it had been in his time.

It was, seemingly too soon for Harry, time for the older children to go to bed as well after the movie had finished. As he headed to his room, he thought about the television again and something occurred to him. If he had come out of a television somewhere else, could he feasibly go into the one here? It was certainly big enough for him to be able to fit through. The only problem was, that world seemed to be dangerous. Sure, he had his own shadow, which the other teens called 'persona', but he wasn't really experienced with using it like they were. Despite the fact that he wasn't physically tired at the moment, he felt mentally tired; like he'd been awake for years without having to sleep.

With barely a thought as he laid down in his room, he pulled up what he thought of as his command menu. He examined his options again and found that he had different categories that he'd ignored last time in his effort to heal the others. The first was Analysis, which he presumed was the ability to analyze the enemy given the name. The next was Tactics, which was seemingly unavailable to him at this time. He didn't know exactly what that was for, as he didn't plan to change his tactics anytime soon, much less in the middle of battle. The next option was Guard, which was self explanatory. The option after that was Attack, which Harry explored, only to find out that it was a physical attack, or for him, using his wand.

Harry grinned. So he could still use the type of magic he knew as well. That may come in handy in battle. He may not have learned a lot of magic yet, but he had learned a bit more than the class curriculum last year considering he was forced into a life-or-death contest. He'd even practiced a few curses that he dared not practice with Hermione. He had delved more into books than she knew, and he'd learned some things that were definitely on the darker side of gray. He only planned to use it if he really needed it; after all, being in a life-or-death contest with no adult willing to speak up to help you can change a person's view on magic.

No one was willing to try to find a loophole to get him out of the magical contract which was only supposed to be for adults in the first place, so he took it upon himself to learn things that he knew his headmaster wouldn't approve of. He'd even gone back into the Chamber of Secrets to keep his own extra training under the radar, which as far as he could tell, succeeded. He'd found Slytherin's study down there, but he wasn't willing to use any of the spells he'd found in the books. The main ones he found were very dark, and he wasn't willing to delve that far into the dark arts. The darkest curse he'd learned was a mild pain curse that was used to temporarily debilitate enemies and make it easy to disarm them. It was only 1/4 as strong as the _Cruciatus_ curse. Enough to cause debilitating pain for as long as it's used, but not enough to cause insanity if used for long periods of time.

He thought that it would definitely be interesting to see the effect his magic had on shadows, but he would have to do it when he was alone. He was still debating on whether or not to tell the others about his magical heritage. If he did, he would be hard pressed to prove that he was telling the truth. True, he may have his wand and his own magic, but they had forms of magic too, even if it was elemental based. He had no way to prove that they had a whole magical society hidden right under their noses. Speaking of which, he also had no way of knowing whether the wizarding world even still existed. What had happened with Voldemort? What had happened to the rest of the wizarding world because of him? Had someone defeated him? He somehow doubted that the man won, otherwise muggles would either be dead or subjugated to him right now.

Barring that, he knew nothing of what happened in the 17 years that he was supposedly missing. As much as he wanted news of what was happening, or rather, what _happened_, he couldn't do much about that now as he didn't know anyone in the Japanese magical community and he had no idea where any magical villages would be in this country. With a sigh, he brought his attention back to examining his command menu. He explored Skill, which happened to be the attacks and healing moves that his shadow, or 'persona' could use. He had _Phoenix Song_, which from what he could tell cured exhaustion and fully healed everyone in range except for the caster (HP and SP). Briefly exploring his other mental display which showed the captions HP and SP, he could put a number to how much damage he could take, which they called HP, or hit points.

The number was currently at 1,432, which he could tell was his max. His SP, or Spirit Points, which was what they called the energy they used to have their Persona do things in battle, was currently at an even 1,300. The skill _Phoenix Song_ would cost him 300 SP every time he used it, and as it didn't heal him, he would need to watch how many times he used it lest he be too tired to move before they could leave that world. The next skill was _Poison Skewer_, which apparently cost him some of his life energy instead of his SP, and from what he could tell, was a physical move made by his Persona that had a chance of poisoning the enemy. The skill after that was _Basilisk Bite_, which was more powerful and had a higher chance of poisoning the enemy, but cost him more HP to use as well.

The skill after that was _Agidyne_, which allowed him to use powerful fire magic on one enemy. This one cost only 12 SP. He figured that this skill must come from the Phoenix side of his shadow, seeing as all the poison skills came from the Basilisk side. The next skill was _Basilisk Stare_, which was death magic. It killed one enemy without fail, unlike _Hama_ and _Mudo_, but it cost a lot of SP to do. No matter what his level, this particular skill would always cost him a fourth of his SP, which at his current level would be 325. He doubted it would work on the most powerful shadows, but the weaker ones would definitely get the full blast of it. The one after that was _Diarahan_, which brought one person of his choosing up to full health and cost 18 SP. The last skill in the set was _Mediarahan_, which fully healed every ally near to him plus himself. This one came in at 30 SP.

It occurred to him that his skill set was already vastly powerful, and definitely didn't equate to him being a beginner, which made him wonder exactly how much he'd forgotten of his time in the other world considering he already had all these skills, and that they were as powerful as they were, not to mention his own HP and SP. It didn't make sense to him, and he knew he'd have to get used to everything before he could take part in any real battles. He finally moved past the Skill option to Items, which was self-explanatory as well. He currently didn't have anything he could use in battle anyway, so it was a moot point.

The last option in his command menu was Escape, which was another self-explanatory option that he didn't bother to explore thoroughly. That done with, he yawned and decided that though his body wasn't all that tired, his mind certainly was and he could use the sleep. He forced himself to lie there until he finally fell into a deep, albeit fitful slumber.

* * *

The next morning he could hear rain pattering against the roof as he awoke. He got up and went about his routine as he had yesterday, but as the day progressed, he found himself thinking about the tele again, unnoticing of the seemingly festive spirit which surrounded the other inhabitants of the orphanage. Sure, that world was dangerous, but he had his wand and his shadow to protect him, right? He hadn't learned those spells for nothing. Maybe he could go and just explore a bit? That wouldn't be so bad, right? Those other teens were there, so obviously the place wasn't quite as dangerous to those who could wield Personas. He thought hard on it as the day progressed, and decided that he would go in tonight, when everyone else was in bed. After all, he could be silent as the night; he'd had plenty of practice at it when sneaking to the kitchen at his relatives to steal food so as not to starve.

It wasn't like he had to turn the tele on to go in it. Or at least, he didn't think so. He'd test it using a hand first, and if all went well, he'd step into that world. Hopefully he didn't come out into a world with shadows that were too strong for him. That would be a disaster. Through all Harry's planning throughout the day to sneak to the entertainment room later that night, not once did he consider asking the other teens for backup. It hadn't crossed his mind. Every time he'd done something like this in the past, he'd just happened to have people that knew where he was going and wanted to come along, except for in the tasks for the Tri-Wizard tournament.

It never occurred to Harry to ask for help because the way he was raised caused his subconscious to shy away from it. The Dursleys would never help a freak like him; he'd learned that at a fairly young age. Funny thing was, with how new Hogwarts was when he was 11, he'd started coming out of his shell a bit more around wizarding kind. He'd even learned to trust adults a bit. That not all of them were like the Dursleys. Then, he'd gone to Professor McGonagall about the Philosopher's stone in first year, and that feeble faith in adults he'd built up came crashing down as she promptly discarded their worries about the dangerous and valuable magical artifact, stating that it was 'perfectly safe' and they needn't worry about it.

Oh yeah, of course it had been safe. Seriously, it was only Voldemort and his slave going after it. No need to worry, right? It wasn't like it was a big deal if he'd gotten it or anything. Harry had looked back at it afterward though and he realized that Quirrel and thus Voldemort would never have been able to get the stone from the mirror. Dumbledore would have gotten back in time to catch them as well, even if they had decided to cut their losses and leave before they could be discovered. Not that Voldemort would have; the chance was too good a one to pass up for him at that point in time.

After the Tri-Wizard tournament, though; or, more specifically, after the third task, he hadn't needed to worry about that anymore. He'd gotten his body back using a ritual and he no longer needed that famed and hard to steal object known as the Philosopher's stone. He was once again at full power, and anxious to prove it by torturing his servants and dueling a 14 year old. Harry, remembering the situation back in his own time, promptly shook it out of his head. It wasn't something that needed thinking about at the moment because there was nothing he could do about it and it would only depress him.

With a fortifying breath, he solidified his vague plans to explore the other world and anxiously awaited the point in the day that he would be able to see them through. It was then that he started to notice the atmosphere around him, and with a start he realized it was Christmas. He thought of his former celebrations with his friends and he felt a small weight settle in his stomach at the thought of a Christmas without them. Without the customary Weasley sweater or the tin full of homemade fudge Mrs. Weasley would send along with it. For the rest of the day he thought about his friends and surrogate family, refraining from taking part in any celebrations and isolating himself in his room.

It was when he heard the festivities dying down that he finally remembered what he had planned to do that night. He waited for a half an hour after everything finally went quiet to allow time for the other occupants of the building to fall asleep, and then, with a silent step (helped along by a silencing charm on his feet, which also blocked out the sound of any squeaking boards), he made his way to the entertainment room, only to find it locked when he attempted to turn the handle. With a slow, silent sigh he looked around to make sure there was truly no one around to see him before he cast a localized silencing charm around the door and himself. He then cast the unlocking charm at the door and opened it.

The door hadn't creaked, but he didn't want to take the chance that it would have and that maybe it would have woken one of the lighter sleepers whose rooms were near it. He got inside the room and closed the door again, locking it physically this time rather than using a charm as the lock was on this side of the door anyway. With that, he dispelled the localized silencing charm but made sure to keep the one around his feet active. He loved being able to do magic away from school! If there was one good thing about this whole mess, it was that even though he didn't physically look it, his magic registered him as being 31, so even the local ministry would just think he was a wizard tourist or something, if the wizarding world still existed.

He must have been affected by that world more than he thought, though, because he'd started casting magic without even thinking about the possible consequences. Not only that, but random information was popping into his head, such as knowing that his magic wouldn't be detected by the local ministry, and knowing that his magic still registered his real technical age. Not only that, but it seemed to have grown as well, growing with his age even though he had physically stopped. He could now do spells with ease that had formerly taken him quite a few tries to master, and he was willing to bet that the spells that were popping up in his head that he knew he hadn't learned on his own time at school were going to be easy for him as well.

He seemed to have experience on his side now, despite not remembering earning it. It seemed that the bits and pieces of his missing memories he saw brought the experience he felt he was missing to him and it made him feel not only older, but stronger as well. It was that thought, more than anything, that made him more confidant with his current plans. With that in mind, and confidence in his stride, he strode over to the television, though out of habit he still made his steps as light as possible despite the silencing charm. He cautiously reached forward toward the screen until he finally made contact with the surface. Unlike any other time he touched what was supposed to be a solid surface (besides the platform that led to his school and the stack of televisions in the other world), his hand seemed to have slid through smoothly with minimal force.

He pulled it out quickly, his heart beating faster as he realized that his theory was right, and that he could, in fact, enter that world from here, or indeed it seemed, any other television he chose that was big enough. He experimentally touched the sides of the television around the screen, and found that they were as solid as they should be. So he was right then. It was only the screens he could pass through. With another fortifying breath, he decided to stick his head through to see where this television would lead. He only just remembered to put the strange glasses on before doing so, his wand clutched tightly in his hand as he did.

Once his head was through, he felt a similar dizzying sensation to the floo network, but only his head was experiencing it. After only a few seconds, it was over, and he looked in to see nothing but fog. There seemed to be no surroundings, but as he thought that, the scar on his head seemed to tingle, and then burn, and things started to take shape around him. He endured the burning to see what they were shaping into, and his heart leapt wildly as he started to recognize his beloved home, Hogwarts. With no thought to the burning in his scar, or indeed his own safety, he went through the screen and stepped back into the halls of the school that had shaped his life far more that his long, hateful years at his relatives' house.

His body endured the floo-like sensation without his head for a few seconds, before it ended, which was pretty disconcerting in itself. He ignored that, though, in favor of wandering the halls of his home, forgetting for a moment that he was not really at Hogwarts. He wandered toward Gryffindor tower, searching for his friends, or indeed any sign of life, hoping against hope that Voldemort hadn't murdered everyone he knew and loved. He was knocked out of his delusion of really being back home as he was attacked by a strange creature, a shadow, as his mind supplied.

With no thought at all, his wand lashed out in front of him with a vicious cutting curse and rent the creature in half diagonally. It let out an animalistic scream as it died, and he looked at his wand, shocked. That had been one of the spells he had refused to learn from Salazar's books. It seems that since he'd known the incantation, and the wand movement, that he could do it anyway, and that he'd done it unconsciously. The reason he'd refused to learn it was because it caused more pain than just the initial injury it caused. It was a curse that made the victim feel like they'd been cut open with a dull, rusty knife, and then had had acid poured into the wound. It could kill, but was mainly used at a lower power to torture.

The thought made him sick to his stomach before he shook his head clear of it. The shadow was just a product of the human mind. A creature that was trying to kill him. It was not a human being, and even if it could feel pain, it had been trying to kill him first so he was just protecting himself. With that thought to make him feel a bit better, he started walking again, though this time he started to head back downwards. If this place was really forming Hogwarts, then feasibly the Chamber of Secrets, and thus Salazar's study should be there, right? He eventually noticed, though, that as he got closer to the chamber, his scar's burning got worse.

He ignored it as best he could, finally reaching the girl's toilet on the second floor and speaking out the parseltongue password that would allow him into the chamber. By this time, the pain was so bad it was making him nauseous. He slid down the pipe quickly, the pain in his head building just as quickly, and with a muffled thump he finally landed upon the small bones that littered the floor of the chamber. It took him a minute to mentally push the pain away before he could stand without falling back down again. He forced himself toward the chamber proper, hissing the command to open as he reached the vault-like door.

As he waiting for it to open, he bent down, his hands on his knees, breathing heavily as though he'd just run a few miles, trying to fight down the urge to vomit at the pain in his scar that was slowly reaching the equal of the _Cruciatus_ in strength. When the door finally opened, he slowly stepped through, making his way to stand before the statue of Slytherin before he finally collapsed, the pain becoming more than he could bear standing up. He gripped his head, nails tearing at his scar as the pain continued to build until it finally reached the point where his conscious mind could no longer take it, and darkness claimed him.

* * *

When the whole of the orphanage awoke the next morning, they went about their day as usual, the caretakers doing the jobs they normally did. It wasn't until it got past lunchtime that the caretakers realized one of the occupants of the orphanage had yet to be seen by anyone that day, and a few of the more concerned ones went to check out the common areas he would normally be. He may be sick if he hadn't felt like eating during the two meals they'd had so far, especially seeing as he'd yet to miss a meal until today. When they finally checked his room, after having checked the grounds and not finding him, they found it empty, though his small amount of belongings were still there, and the bed looked as though he'd just left it.

In a small panic, they went out to check beyond the grounds, going so far as searching the whole town in case he had gotten up early and decided to explore today. They asked around, going so far as to ask kids around his age and the proprietors of the businesses if they had seen him, to which everyone had replied that they hadn't. When they all met up back at the orphanage, they came to the horrifying conclusion that one of their own had disappeared sometime between last night and this morning. With that, they called the police, and though a person usually had to be missing for more than a few hours for the police to consider it a case, the town was still on high alert from the kidnappings of the last case, and they took it on right away.

* * *

Dojima sighed as the news the station was buzzing with finally reached him. He had thought that this case was closed, and they had caught the perpetrator of the whole thing. A man who had tricked another more gullible man into kidnapping various people in an attempt to 'save' them. His heart clenched in guilt at the thought of his former partner. He knew they had the right man, and they'd been keeping Namatame under surveillance as well, because, unwitting though he was, he was an accomplice to the crimes of Adachi. He hadn't left his home last night at all. He sighed as this opened up a whole new list of possibilities.

Namatame may not have been the only one tricked by Adachi, and if people were still being kidnapped then this case was still open until they could figure out who was doing it this time. He had noticed a pattern, though, during his last run with this case. The people that went missing, with the exception of their last suspect and the murder victims, were all students and had all come back relatively unharmed, though they had all claimed that they remembered nothing of the time they were missing. They had all also joined his nephew's little group of friends, and they always seemed to be somehow involved in the case.

He then had an epiphany. The one who was missing now, Potter Harry, who he had helped out the last time they had met, had been missing for 17 years and claimed that he had no memories of the time he was missing either. Could that prior disappearance and the case be linked at all? Could the same person who caused his disappearance last time have come back to finish the job after finding out that the kid had come out relatively unharmed? He hated not knowing all the relevant information. The prior investigation of the teen's disappearance had led to nothing, and though they had investigated further and found out about the abuse the child had gone through prior to that, they couldn't prove that their main suspect, the uncle, had done anything.

The case had been closed after a year of finding nothing, and the kids belongings were collected to be put into the evidence locker and never touched again. He'd sent a request to have them transferred over right after the station had received the news that he was missing again. Though the uncle had been the main suspect in the last case, he somehow doubted that a man that was now nearing his 60's had anything to do with it this time. He could go out on a limb and guess that it was the man's son, Harry's cousin, but that would be foolish as the man now apparently had a family and would most likely do nothing of the sort.

It was more than likely someone in town, and he still had no leads; no one did. The whole station was a bundle of nervous energy. Everyone thought the case had been closed, and now someone comes up missing once again. As much as he hated to admit it, he may have to bring his nephew and his ragtag group of 'detectives' in on this, as for some reason they seemed to be able to find evidence or even leads that the police as a whole missed. Then again, they did have Shirogane on their side now as well, and the small tom-boyish detective was certainly no amateur. With a sigh, he called up his nephew and had him gather up his group of friends at his house. If he was going to bring them into this, he wasn't going to do so in public.

After that was done, he let his underlings know that he was going out to investigate something so that if anyone called in with information, they could answer the call instead of expecting him to do so and missing it. He got into his car and headed toward his house, thankful that the kids currently had time off of school so he wasn't making them miss anything. He wished that Nanako wouldn't have to hear this, but she wasn't well enough to go to a friend's house right now, so he could only hope that she was currently sleeping, as she did more often now that she was recovering.

He reached the house in record time, hurrying out of his vehicle after he parked it, and into the house. He counted nine pairs of shoes by the door, which meant that the whole group and Nanako were here, and when he reached the living room, he saw with relief that Nanako was not sitting there with them. He waved a greeting to them and checked in his daughter's room to find that she was, indeed, sleeping. He closed the door quietly and made his way back to the group of teens who were all looking at him with a bit of apprehension, as if they could sense that something was wrong.

"I know you all have no idea why I've had you all gather here. I'm going to tell you now. Another person went missing sometime between last night and this morning." he said, and immediately the teens started to talking, but before he could quiet them, his nephew did so and asked what the group was all thinking.

"Why are you telling us this, uncle?" he asked in the quiet voice the man had gotten used to. Dojima sighed and rolled his neck, looking at all the teens before answering.

"As much as I don't want you all involved in this case, you always seem to be anyway, and many of you were prior victims of abduction. You are involved in this case whether I like it or not, and I would rather work with you than try to discourage you like I have been. You all seem to find things that even the police don't, and we need this case solved if we ever want this town to be able to relax again. So, will you all agree to work with me on this?" he asked, looking at them all seriously. They seemed to have a silent discussion between them before as one, they nodded their confirmation.

"What do you want us to do?" Yu asked, but before he could answer, Shirogane spoke up with an apologetic look at his nephew.

"Who went missing this time, Dojima-san?" she asked, and they all looked at him for the answer, as it seems that the rest of them had forgotten this detail in light of his wanting their help.

"The person who went missing goes by the name of Potter Harry, who I am sure you all remember." he said, and they all looked shocked, and then pensive. He let them think on that for awhile, while he debated on what to say to them. He had begun to reluctantly believe them more and more about the strange world they had all talked about, and though he hated sending kids to do his dirty work, it was familiar territory to them and it was completely new to him. Added to that was the fact that he didn't know how to get there, or if he even _could_ get there. It seemed that despite his reluctance, he would have to send the group of teens into that world once more.

"Before you all decide anything, I have a request." he said, and that got their attention again. "As much as I hate to ask you, I want you all to investigate that...other world again. If that is where the rest of the victims ended up, then he may be there." he said, and they all looked at each other once more before Shirogane spoke up.

"I thought that you did not believe that part of the report, Dojima-san." she said, with the others nodding in agreement.

"I've had a few days to think about it, and I started to believe it after awhile." he said uncomfortably, before mentally shaking himself and regaining his professional composure. "I obviously couldn't include that in the report, as I would be shipped off to a mental hospital, but yes, I have come to believe it. I don't want to ask you all to put yourselves in danger again, but I have no choice in this matter if there is even a chance that you can help bring him back unharmed, or at the least, alive. We need to stop this from happening once and for all." he said, and by the determined looks on the teen's faces, they agreed with him.

"We'll do it." his nephew said, his voice filled with a quiet confidence that made Dojima proud. With that, the teens got to planning with some of his input. Dojima smiled to himself. It looked like Inaba's 'Junior Detectives' were back on the case.

End Ch.

A/N: Well, that took forever. I had to stop for awhile as I had really no inspiration for the rest of the chapter, but something I saw online inspired me once more, so here it is. ^_^' At least three weeks late, that is. As I stated in the first Author's Note, I am sorry about that. I couldn't be helped though. I just didn't feel like I could write anymore for awhile there. I love you all for sticking with me though. :3

P.S. The only reason I pointed out the rain on the day Harry went into the t.v. world is because the weather there changes quite a bit, so I decided to have it rain that day. If anyone were to watch the midnight channel, or indeed if anyone did, they would have seen him wandering around the pseudo-Hogwarts. It isn't going to be foggy in the real world quite yet because if you'll notice, I didn't mention anything about rain the next day. I didn't mention the weather at all, actually, but if you wanted to know, it was sunny that day. :) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you didn't, well then, I'm sorry.

RW


	4. Battling the True Self

**A/N: **Just wanted to let you all know that** THIS WILL BE MY LAST UPDATE FOR ABOUT THREE WEEKS. **I apologize for the inconvenience, but I assure you I will be working on the story while I am away, with a good old fashioned pencil and paper since I can't take my beloved laptop. I will then bring it back and type it out.**  
**

* * *

**Ch. 4: Battling the 'True Self'**

Harry slowly came back to consciousness, and as he was slowly drifting upward, he heard a sibilant voice speaking softly to him, telling him to wake up.

"Wake up Harry. It's time for you to wake up." the voice said quietly, and he swore he recognized that voice. It seemed, though, that the person to whom the voice belonged had gotten tired of waiting for him to wake, and with a quiet _Ennervate,_ he was thrust fully back into consciousness, his mind forcibly alert. The first thing he noticed was that his scar no longer hurt. In fact, he could feel nothing from it at all. The second thing he noticed was the person to whom the voice belonged, and the person made his heart skip a beat, because he now remembered just _why_ that voice was so familiar.

Tom Riddle. The 16 year old Tom, not his older incarnation, was standing before him, his face showing an unholy glee which looked sinister despite his good looks. When he spoke, that glee filled his voice, sounding so unlike himself that it shocked Harry.

"I've been waiting for you to wake up! I've been so bored here, but now I have someone to play with!" he said happily, holding a wand which Harry quickly recognized as his own.

"Play with?" he asked before he could stop himself, and if the look on his face before had made Harry nervous, the vicious smile that replaced it made him downright scared.

"Oh yesss!" he hissed with malicious glee, aiming Harry's own wand at him. "You've been ignoring me for a very long time, Harry. I haven't been out to play since we were younger, and living with those stupid muggles." he said, and licked his lips in anticipation. "But now, I'm in a world where I've finally gotten my own physical form, and I can finally show you just how much you _hurt_ me by pushing me away. I can finally cause you as much pain as you caused me!" he said gleefully, and before Harry could say anything, he whispered the incantation for the Cruciatus curse and all Harry knew was pain.

* * *

The eight teens met up at Junes' food court that same day after leaving Dojima's place and going out to pick up anything they needed. They checked their equipment and items to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything, and with determination they headed toward the electronics department to enter the t.v. world. As soon as they were all through, Rise summoned her Persona and gasped.

"He's here! And in a new place too! We'd better be ready! This place has some really strong shadows in it!" she said, and they looked to the leader on what to do.

"Is everyone ready? Do one last check on your equipment." he said, and as everyone started to do so, he did as well. Once that was done with, he motioned for Rise to lead the way. When they finally arrived, it was to find a huge, sinister looking castle that outstripped both Yukiko's and Mitsuo's in size.

"Oh, not another castle!" Yukiko groaned, shaking her head in dismay. She hated being reminded of her own little world within the t.v. world and the things that had happened there.

"It's okay Yukiko. Most everyone's probably forgotten it by now." Chie said softly to her friend, ignoring the incredulous look Yosuke shot her as he heard this statement. He wisely decided to say nothing. Kanji, however, seemed to have missed the memo and decided to stick his foot right in his mouth.

"If her's was anything like mine, then I highly doubt that Senpai. It's more than likely that people will remember it for a long time to come. Especially any one who saw it on the midnight channel." he said to Chie, who glared at him murderously while Yukiko groaned once more and placed her face in her hands in embarrassment. She stepped threateningly towards Kanji, but Yu, sensing that the impending fight would be quite violent, put a stop to it with an order.

"Enough! Let's go. We need to get in here and find Potter-san before something happens to him." he said with a finality that brooked no argument, and they nodded in acceptance, though Chie did so grudgingly and Kanji did so gratefully. They headed up to the huge doors that were open with a big portal of swirling black and red energy making up the entrance. Yu led the way, and they all started on one of the hardest dungeons they'd ever had to overcome.

* * *

When his mind finally cleared up after what seemed like hours, he could feel his muscles twitching uncontrollably, but he was no longer under the effects of the curse. He came to to find that his head was in Tom's lap, and the teen himself was stroking Harry's hair and speaking softly to him.

"It's okay, Harry. It's all over now. Your punishment is done with." he said softly, and Harry hadn't the muscle control to push him away. He did, however, have the ability to speak.

"Get away from me, Tom." he mumbled, and Tom's hand froze in his hair, before resuming his stroking.

"You have no idea what you're saying, Harry. You don't want to push me away. You don't seem to understand that despite the way I look, I'm not Tom. I'm you. I'm your Slytherin side, Harry." he said softly. Harry turned to look up into his apparent other self's face, taking in the yellow eyes with a small shudder that had nothing to do with the aftershocks of the Cruciatus.

"That doesn't make any sense. If you're a part of me, why don't you look like me?" he asked, and his other self's face darkened.

"I don't look like you, Harry, because Voldemort did something he didn't intend to do that night he came to kill you. He left a piece of his soul inside you. Eventually, that piece was absorbed by _your_ soul, and I was born. I embody all of your Slytherin traits; the ones you tried to hide once you were sorted into Gryffindor. Your ambition, hidden as it is. Your ability to speak to snakes. Even your passion for the Dark Arts, which you try so valiantly to hide. I am the part of you that wants to make all those who hurt us pay. I am the part of you who wants nothing more than to leave the bigoted wizards to their destruction at the hands of Voldemort. It was, after all, a destruction of their own making." he said quietly, sneering at the stupidity of wizards in general.

"I wouldn't do that. My friends are there. I wouldn't leave them to fight him alone." Harry said quietly, unable to raise his voice as he was still recovering from the Cruciatus. His other self's hand tightened painfully in his hair.

"_Liar_!" he hissed, his eyes flashing red for a moment, before they turned back to that unnerving shade of yellow. The same shade, he noticed, that a basilisk's eyes were. "You want them to be destroyed, even if you have to do it _yourself_. You may be able to lie to others, Harry, but you can never lie to yourself! I was there when you used to dream of murdering your relatives while they slept! I was there _every_ time you felt that burning rage inside that made you want to kill! I was there for _every_ beating! I was there for _every_ hateful word that they spewed at you! I was there _every_ time Dumbledore told you that you had to return to those _people_! I remember _exactly_ what you wanted to do to the old man every time he denied you!

"Even if you didn't learn the curses from Slytherin's study, I _did_. I knew we would need them one day, when you finally decided that you'd had enough. When you finally decided to take your place as the ruler of this pitiful world full of hateful people. And they are hateful, aren't they Harry? We learned just how hateful the muggles were when we were growing up there. How even strangers would turn away from the obvious signs of abuse because they had heard the rumors spread by our abusers that we were a delinquent. No one tried to help us! And then there's the wizarding world as well. The Weasley's obviously noticed the abuse as well, but did they ever try to help us? No. All Molly ever did was proclaim how thin we were and try to stuff as much food into us as she could at every sitting.

"She never tried to get us out of there! The Weasley's _never_ tried to get us out of our abusive home, despite the evidence that it was slowly killing us. The whole of Hogwarts turned on us when our name came out of that stupid flaming goblet, claiming that we cheated and that we were unworthy to be a champion. Even our supposed 'best friend' turned on us out of jealousy and spite!" his other self said hatefully, a snarl across his handsome face.

"And then of course, after the third task, the maze, we were kidnapped by Voldemort and used in that blood magic ritual. Of course, when we tried to do something decent and let the wizarding world know that the most evil bastard since Grindewald was back, the leader of the wizarding world called us a liar because in his cowardice, he doesn't want to believe that the peace he has done nothing to help work for is gone in one night. _Nobody_ apologizes to us, of course, for not believing that we didn't put our name in the cup. Everything's just expected to go back to how it was! I remember just how badly we wanted to hurt all of the two faced idiots that acted as though they'd done nothing to us!

"We had the power, but instead you pushed me back and pretended to be the good little Gryffindor and forgive those traitors!" he hissed, making Harry flinch as the hand tightened in his hair again. "We have even more power now. We have the power to subjugate those weak bastards to our will, and yet you still choose not to! Why do you deny what you want?" he asked, and Harry shook his head despite the hand entwined in his hair.

"I don't want to subjugate them! I would _never_ want that! I don't care if I have the power because it isn't my place to rule!" Harry said hotly, ignoring the pain of the hand pulling at his hair.

"You don't have to pretend with me, Harry. I am a part of you. I know you better than you know yourself. I know that you want them all to bow at our feet. Those ungrateful scum that are barely worthy to serve us! You only have to embrace me and we can make them pay us back in _blood_ for all the blood we shed for _them_!" he said viciously, and Harry ripped himself away from his other self, standing up quickly and glaring at his shadow.

"You liar! I could never want such a thing!" Harry said, a snarl marring his face. Unnoticed by the two, eight teens stumbled their way into the chamber proper, only just realizing how good their timing was if they wanted to help the other teen. "You are not a part of me! You are not me!" Harry screamed, glaring at the shadow who had by then stood up, his yellow eyes flashing with glee.

"You're right. I'm not you! Not anymore, at least! Now I'm me and I'm no longer subject to your petty whims!" he said with a vicious smile, his form shifting before the eyes of the teens to become a huge, grotesque looking black eight headed snake with poisonous green eyes, different by far than Veniferous, his Basilisk Persona. Its heads reared back and it hissed at Harry hatefully. "I am a shadow! The true self! I will crush you and then use my power to crush everything else!" it hissed, readying itself to strike at Harry. Before Harry could do anything, he felt himself getting weaker, and he fell to his knees as his legs gave out. He closed his eyes and waited for the strike to come, but instead he heard the pained hiss of his shadow, and opened his eyes again to see what had happened.

A tall figure with a huge sword stood in front of him, protecting him from the giant hydra looking snake who now had a great gash across the face of one of its heads. He recognized the figure in front of him as the Persona Izanagi, as he'd seen it in the fight against Ameno-Sagiri. He then noticed the other teens who were quickly making their way toward him, and though he tried to stand, he couldn't. Shirogane reached him first.

"Are you okay, Potter-san?" she asked, and he nodded, glad that they seemed to have only just arrived. He would have hated for them to hear any of what the shadow had said. When the other teens reached him, a few of them summoned Personas to fight against the snake as well. Hanamura, however, looked back at him, puzzled.

"Don't you already have a Persona? Why are we fighting another shadow that's supposed to be a part of you?" he asked, and Harry shook his head violently.

"That _thing_ is not a part of me! Like you said, I already have a Persona! I don't know _what_ that thing is, but it's clearly lying!" Harry said vehemently, and as he said this, he felt more of his strength leave him, to the point where his arms couldn't support him and he lay belly down on the cold stone floor. To make matters worse, it seemed that his denial had somehow strengthened the great, many headed snake. It quickly lashed out with its huge tail and knocked the front line of teens back, injuring them severely and causing Shirogane and the other teens who were behind them as defense to step forward and start fighting the thing all out to give the others time to heal. Kujikawa seemed to be the only one not fighting, as she was providing support to the others.

Harry hated that he felt so weak now. He couldn't even summon Veniferous to heal the injured teens. His hatred, however, seemed to give him the strength to sit back up, and as he remembered the face that the shadow had worn, something clicked in his mind. It had said that Voldemort had left a bit of his soul in Harry, and that over time, his soul had absorbed it, and that he was born from it. So this shadow was basically Voldemort, as it was a part of him. That thought gave Harry even more strength as he felt rage burn through his veins. This was a part of the monster that had killed his parents and countless other people!

With strength that he'd thought had previously left him, he stood, hatred burning in his eyes as he looked at the huge, many headed snake in front of him. That piece of Voldemort had used this world to gain a body, thus turning into a shadow, and he would make it feel every ounce of pain that he had felt throughout his life because of Voldemort! It was _his_ fault that Harry'd had to live with hateful muggles that couldn't stand the sight of him! It was _his_ fault that Harry couldn't just be a normal kid and go to school and make friends! It was _his_ fault that his name had gotten entered into that stupid cup and his best friend had turned on him because of it!

With a scream of rage, Harry summoned his Persona, who he then commanded to bite the other snake whose size was quite a bit bigger than his companion's. As Veniferous used _Basilisk Bite_ on one of the heads, he felt a little of his strength leave him, but not nearly enough to care. He saw his wand on the floor near the snake and dove for it while the snake was distracted by Ven. He grabbed it and rolled away just before he was crushed under the coils of the thing, who by then had noticed him. He hurried backward away from the thing and commanded Ven to use _Mediarahan_ before lashing out with a _Diffindo_ aimed at one of the thing's heads.

Unfortunately, the head he was aiming for moved out of the way and his spell hit the stone ceiling instead, causing nothing but a small cloud of stone dust to fall from it and making a small crack. The other teens were back to attacking it full force as well, feeling energized after he had healed them. However, now that he had entered the fight, the thing seemed more intent upon killing him than it had any of the others, and thus he was spending more time healing than he was comfortable with, though it was only every third turn that he had to do so. He hated the thing's area attack though. Apparently, it could spit poison that was like acid, and it was a move that affected a huge area because there were eight bloody heads that did it in unison.

Harry and all the other party members that could heal had spent quite a bit of SP healing the damage done by that before Harry had managed to get in a cutting curse that actually hit, slashing the thing across it's huge belly and pissing it off even more. Even in its pain, though, it slithered forward almost faster than the eye could see and enveloped Harry in it's huge coils, tightening around him until it was crushing him. Through the pain and breathlessness, Harry gasped his commands to his Persona, ordering it to keep fighting despite the fact that he was now directly in the line of fire. It did just that, though the other teens seemed hesitant to attack with him right there.

They did start attacking the snake again, though, when one of Harry's arms finally snapped under the pressure with a very loud crack. His scream was almost inhuman, especially as once he started screaming, he didn't stop, owing to the fact that his now broken arm was still being crushed by the giant serpent. The eight heads were all doing different things, though there was one for each of the attacking teens so it was never distracted enough to get hit by what could be a killing blow. Harry was helpless at the moment, and the serpent knew it. One of the heads, after double teaming on an attack with another head that hit Narukami, turned back toward him, it's fangs bared, ready to bite off his head.

It was distracted enough that it didn't see Ven rushing it from behind, and with a quick maneuver, Ven had it's neck in his jaws and bit down, his teeth having been sharp enough to sever the head. The heads screamed in unison, writhing from the pain and inadvertently releasing Harry, who hurried to escape the temporarily loosened coils before the thing got it's bearings back. He had Ven cast a _Diarahan_ on him once he had the breath to command it, which caused his arm to snap back into place painfully and heal the fracture. He then commanded him to continue attacking the now seven headed snake. The thing was still obviously in pain, but it had gotten its bearings back and all seven of the remaining heads were glaring at him and his Persona.

It was apparently enough of a distraction for Izanagi to get in there and sever yet another head, making the thing howl and writhe in pain once more.

"There! Attack while it's distracted! Go for the killing blows!" Kujikawa shouted, bolstering everyone with her enthusiasm. Harry and the others attacked with a vengeance, raining hell and fire upon the great snake. If you looked, you could see the waning strength of the thing, but it wasn't over just yet. With a deep breath, and a rearing of it's remaining six heads, it once again rained poisonous acid upon it's foes, though it didn't hit everyone this time. Those that were hit took quite a bit of damage though, and Harry was one of them. With a gasp, he commanded Ven to use _Mediarahan_ so his comrades could continue attacking, but a few of them including himself were poisoned and he had nothing to heal that.

"Senpai! Potter-san, Kanji-kun, and Naoto-kun are poisoned! Does anyone have extra antidotes?" Kujikawa asked, and it was with relief that Harry caught a vial that was thrown to him and popped the cork to drink it down. He felt the poison leaving his system, but his inattention had cost him as he looked up just in time to see one of the heads in mid-lunge coming towards him. He moved mostly out of the way but the head had caught one of his arms and it bit down viciously, not quite breaking his arm but almost. It released him, however, before Ven could get his jaws around another neck and sever yet another head. He was left with multiple gaping wounds in his arm, though thankfully he wasn't poisoned again.

He didn't have time to heal, though, as yet another head lunged toward him from his other side, and he was forced to roll with his wounded arm, making him just barely hold back a scream as pain ripped through his arm. Tatsumi, however, came to his rescue and slammed a huge metal plate he was using as a weapon into the head that looked ready to attack him yet again.

"Thanks." Harry said tightly, casting yet another _Diarahan_ over himself and throwing one at the blonde punk for good measure. He felt the wounds on his arm close up slowly, and he gave a sigh of relief as soon as it was done. He decided to try his fire skill _Agidyne_ on the snake to see what it would do, and it turned out that it only seemed to do a moderate amount of damage, although the heads that it did hit got singed by it. That, however, had apparently given the others the idea to try their elements out as well, to see if they could find out what it would be weak against, and it was Satonaka and Teddy that hit the jackpot with _Bufudyne_. When they cast it, it slowed the snake down each time as well as taking a good chunk out of it's HP and knocking it down.

"It's down! Let's get it!" Satonaka said, and as one they moved in close to wail on it with their weapons, though Harry stood back a bit and made sure he had a clear shot before severing yet another head with the darker, and more powerful cutting curse he had used on the shadow he had encountered earlier. As the thing screamed and writhed on the ground from the attacks, Harry felt a momentary surge of triumph and satisfaction at causing the thing pain. They moved back, though, as it thrashing became more intense and some of the still attached heads curled around the stump that Harry had severed the head from as if to protect it.

With a vicious smile, Harry readied himself to throw another of the same curse but was caught off guard by the tail that came sweeping toward them all. It slammed into him full force and knocked the breath out of his lungs and the wand out of his hand, slamming him into one of the chamber walls. The others that were in reach of the tail were in similar states, having dropped their weapons as well when the thing slammed into them. Harry slowly stood, feeling nauseous and dizzy. Every breath that he took felt like fire. He knew he had quite a few broken ribs, and by the feel of it, one of them had punctured a lung.

He also figured that by the feel of his head, he had a concussion, and he really needed to catch enough breath to command a _Diarahan _or a_ Mediarahan_. Feeling sick to his stomach, he took a deep breath to speak the command but ended up coughing violently instead, hacking up blood as his internal injuries became worse with the unintentional jarring movements. Gasping for breath as the coughing fit stopped for the moment, Harry fell to his knees, too dizzy from his concussion and oxygen deprivation to keep standing. Taking another chance, Harry took another breath, not as deep this time, and managed to rasp out his command.

"_Diarahan_." He said, and felt Ven cast it over him before returning to the fight with the now five headed creature who had finally gotten back up. When the worst of his injuries had healed up, he breathed out his next command, knowing his Persona would hear it, and not wanting the creature, who probably knew what it did, to interfere. "_Phoenix Song._" Sure enough, Ven heard him and moved far away from the fight to do his master's bidding. He opened his mouth, and out came a song of purest joy, radiating within the hearts of his allies and fully healing them, as well as taking care of some of their minor exhaustion. He felt the severe drop in energy and it was all he could do to remain standing.

He'd used a lot of energy on this fight. Sure enough as he glanced at his mental display, his SP was down to 300 on the dot. He'd used up 1,000 SP healing himself, using his fire skill, and healing his allies. If he used only Ven's physical attacks for now, he'd have enough SP left for one more _Phoenix Song_ if they needed it, but he would probably need to end up healing someone before that, so it was probably better used toward regular healing. With that thought, he moved back toward the fight, where he noticed that the thing had lost another head while he was paying attention to his healing and mental command display. By the way the heads were focusing on Hanamura now, he was willing to bet that he was the one who'd done it.

"Let's go! It's halfway over! We have to take out all the heads if we want to win!" Kujikawa said, making Harry mentally groan. They were only halfway there and he was already low on SP. Well, he'd just have to fight twice as hard and hope that he could take off more of the bastard's heads. Satonaka and Teddy decided to combine their Bufudynes for maximum effect this time, and with a screech, the creature's whole bottom half, including it's tail, froze solid. They took advantage of that and used their most powerful moves on it. Amagi used _Maragidyne_ quite skillfully and it hit all four of the remaining heads without thawing out the ice the lower half was encased in.

The heads were distracted by trying to break the ice so it came as no surprise when Take-Mikazuchi took off another head with the huge lightning bolt in his hand.

'Three more to go.' Harry thought with a grin, as Kujikawa repeated his thoughts out loud along with an encouragement to all of them. The battle continued now with everyone focusing their efforts on the three remaining heads. With a few more focused Bufudynes thanks to Teddy and Satonaka, the heads themselves slowed again and Shirogane's quick little Persona, Sukuna-Hikona, rushed in for the kill, taking out two heads in one go, although the other one got moving fast enough to knock the small creature away again. The ice on the lower half finally broke as the snake screeched and writhed in pain once more, but its thrashing made it fall over as most of its heads were no longer there to help keep balance.

"Way to go Naoto-kun! Show 'em who's boss guys! One head left and were done with this thing!" Kujikawa cheered, and they attacked once more, though this head was doing all it could to avoid all the attacks. Satonaka and Teddy focused on casting Bufudyne to try to slow it down, but it was no use as they couldn't get a hit in. The thing was too fast. It knew that the end was near. As Harry thought this, he got a really bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, especially as the head kept glancing toward him. Cornered animals tended to attack viciously, and this one, animal or not, was definitely cornered. Turned out he was right, as the thing rushed him faster than anyone could follow and bowled him over.

The thing lashed out at him again and again, getting in small, quick bites, and he could avoid none of it as the first attack had left him stunned. Just as it was about to go for his neck, though, it was hit with a Bufudyne from behind that finally managed to hit it, which slowed it down enough for Ven to knock it away and into Satonaka and Amagi's line of fire. They both sent in their Personas and Konohana Sakuya grabbed it by the head while Tomoe swung it's double bladed staff at the thing and sliced off the remaining head, causing Kujikawa to give a shout in triumph.

Harry healed himself as the shadow shrunk down once more into it's human form, only this time it didn't take on his enemy's face. It looked like a more refined version of himself, actually, with the exception of the yellow eyes. It looked at him carefully, showing nothing of the emotion it must be feeling. He knew, though; he could feel it. The shadow was scared that it would be rejected again. That it would never be accepted. He sighed; he could see now that it was a part of him. There was a part of himself, a darker, vicious part of himself that he didn't want to acknowledge. A part of him that just wanted to rip the world apart and watch it burn. Watch it suffer as he had suffered.

With a sigh, he nodded just slightly. The shadow smiled, before turning into a Persona that he instinctively knew was named Orochi, which was smaller and much friendlier looking than the wild shadow version they'd just fought. It then disappeared into a card, which landed in his hand. With a slight smile, he turned back to the group and broke into an embarrassed smile.

"I'm sorry for the trouble. Thank you for helping me defeat my shadow." he said, and Hanamura spoke up, saying what the rest of the other teens were thinking.

"Can you tell us what that was all about now? You already have a Persona. How is it that you have another one now?" he asked, and Harry scratched his head nervously. He knew he'd have to explain that eventually, and he only barely understood it himself.

"Look," he started uncomfortably, hyper-aware of how everyone was paying him rapt attention now. "I only really barely understand it myself. Apparently, it was...like another personality of mine. One I wasn't aware that I had. Apparently I had pushed away some part of myself that I didn't want to acknowledge to the point that it formed it's own consciousness, and that apparently only came to a head when I came back to this world in the form of another shadow that wanted to confront me. We talked for awhile, and I refused to acknowledge it as a part of me. The rest you know." Harry said self-consciously, not wanting to say that it was also, besides being another personality, part of some madman's soul that had been absorbed into his as well.

"Just what is that stick you're holding, Potter-san? I saw flashes of light coming from it, and I saw the result of one of them when it severed one of the heads. How exactly does it work?" Shirogane asked, bringing attention he really didn't want brought to his wand. Well, it couldn't be helped. It was his fault for unthinkingly using it in front of them in the fight, but it was instinct to protect himself that made him use it and he wasn't going to scold himself for trying to survive.

"You may not believe what I have to say. Are you all willing to keep a relatively open mind?" Harry asked, looking at all of them in turn. It was Tatsumi that spoke up first.

"Dude, we fight monsters with other monsters in a world inside the t.v. Right now, I think I'd believe just about anything." he said with a careless shrug, making Harry laugh.

"While that is true, you may find this too unbelievable." Harry said with a chuckle, before turning serious again.

"It's magic." Teddy said unexpectedly, startling Harry, who whipped his head toward the bear along with the others.

"Magic? But we use that all the time, and _we_ don't need sticks to do it." Amagi said, and the other teens nodded, but Teddy shook his head.

"No, you use energy from yourselves and your shadows to produce and control the element or elements your Persona has an affinity to. It's not the same thing." Teddy said irritably, and the other teens besides Harry all gaped at the bear. They'd never heard him say anything relatively intelligent before, so it came as a huge surprise. "What I'm talking about is _real_, honest to bear magic!" he said, making the other teens groan at the bear joke, and think at the same time about what he actually said.

"Can you demonstrate what else your magic can do, Potter-san, or is it rude to ask you to do such a thing?" Shirogane asked, and Harry looked at her as all other eyes turned to him.

"Yes, I can demonstrate a few things, and no, it's not rude to ask. I just usually don't go around showing it off because where I'm from, we aren't supposed to let non-magical people who don't already know about magic see it. It's a rule to keep us all safe." Harry said, and Shirogane nodded, though it looked like he had raised more questions for all of them with his answer by the looks on their faces. He held up a hand to forestall them. "I will answer your questions after I give a demonstration of my magic." he said, and they all nodded in agreement. He looked around for something to use as an example, but there really was nothing around to transfigure or anything in the wide open area of the main chamber.

He wasn't quite up to conjuring in school yet, and he'd worked more on his offensive magic during his self-study, as he'd taken to calling his extra-curricular training.

"Can we do this somewhere else though? I know a place in here that's more comfortable than this stone chamber, and I don't think there would be any shadows there." Harry said, and they all nodded in agreement, looking vaguely relieved. Harry could understand the sentiment. After all, they'd all just gotten done fighting a really strong shadow, and they were mentally exhausted even if they weren't physically so. It would be a relief to sit for awhile. He led them to where he remembered the secret door to be. It blended in so well with the rest of the stone that you would have a hard time finding it unless you already knew it was there, or you were cursing in parseltongue near it and just happened to inadvertently say the password (such as Harry's case, much to his embarrassment).

He led the others further into the main chamber and counted the tall snake statues on his left until he reached the seventh one. He then turned and strode up to the right of the statue and said the password to the wall behind it in a softly spoken hiss. The sound of stone grinding against stone met his ears as part of the wall slid away to reveal a darkened stone hallway which lit up automatically as he took a step inside, the torches coming to life with a soft hiss of air and a crackle. He led them a ways down the hallway until he reached the third door on the right, and he brushed the doorknob with his hand in order to let it 'taste' his magic. He was treating this as he would anything in the real chamber.

Everything should feasibly react the same seeing as this was all created from his mind, if his theory was correct. The door swung inward after a few seconds, the wards having tasted the magic of the 'heir', which made more sense to him now that he knew Voldemort had left a part of himself in Harry. His magic was different than Voldemort's, but as his was mixed with it, he could only guess that the wards had assumed he was Voldemort's son or something along those lines. As much as that thought disturbed him, it wouldn't keep him from coming here. This place was bloody useful, and now he had his own version of Hogwarts to romp around in, even if he couldn't go back to his own time.

He led them into the room, and sure enough, every detail was as he remembered it, and he realized with a start that his other self had said he'd read all these books, even if Harry hadn't. Did that mean that he'd done it as Voldemort when he was younger, or did he do it as Harry without the boy himself realizing it. His other self seemed to hear his thoughts, and answered him in kind.

'I came out when you were asleep sometimes. I did not lie when I said that I hadn't been out to 'play' since we were living with the muggles. Any time I took control, it was when you went to sleep, and I did nothing but study. I knew we would need the knowledge some day. Your unconscious mind remembers all the knowledge contained within these books, so they will be accurate if you decide to pick one up to read it and refresh your conscious memory.' he said, and Harry gave him the mental equivalent of a nod before turning his attention back to the other teens. They had all found seats in the comfortable green and silver chairs and sofas that dotted the room. He closed the door behind him to make sure that no shadows would find them before lighting a fire in the fireplace to make the atmosphere and temperature more comfortable.

He decided on a chair that was vaguely facing the furniture the other teens had chosen, and sighed as he thought about how best to explain magic and the wizarding world. He decided to start at the beginning, that is, his beginning. The night Voldemort murdered his parents. He then went on to explain about the basics of magic, and the different types of witches and wizards that populated the wizarding world. Shirogane seemed intrigued by the muggle-borns, and the general consensus and attitude towards bigoted purebloods was disgust at the way the wizards and witches acted toward people of any other blood.

After this, he went back to explain about wands in general, and how they chose their user. By this time, they had a general idea of just how nasty Voldemort was, and he refrained from telling them that his wand was the twin of Voldemort's. He explained his place in the wizarding world in vague terms, but even with that they could see his disgust with the wizarding world in general, and his annoyance at being famous. They were suitably outraged as he told them how he was worshiped one day and vilified the next, all depending on the mood of the ministry, which controlled the main wizarding newspaper.

He then explained about the differences between light and dark magic, and showed them examples, though he stuck to the more grey dark spells as he dared not cast anything too dangerous near his new...friends? Acquaintances, more like, he decided. He showed them the Patronus charm as the example for light magic, and then he moved an unmanned chair away from the rest of them so he could show them the Bombardment jinx, which blew the poor chair to pieces, though he fixed it with a quick Repairing charm. As expected, they liked the Patronus charm because of the beauty of the magic itself, and they were impressed with the Bombardment jinx because of the sheer power of the explosion in such a contained area.

When he had said all he could think of, and had effectively answered any questions they had, they all sat back to think for awhile before Narukami spoke up.

"We should head back soon. Uncle Dojima will want to know that Potter-san is alright." he said softly, and they all agreed with him, but Shirogane turned back to Harry as she stood.

"By the way, Potter-san. Do you remember what happened to you?" she asked, and the other teens turned to him as well in askance.

"What...happened to me?" he asked, puzzled.

"Yes; do you remember how you came to be here?" she asked, and Harry nodded, looking a little sheepish.

"Yeah. I sort of just...walked in." he said, nonplussed. They all looked at him in shock, before Shirogane sighed.

"Well, at least we know now that you weren't kidnapped, which means the case really is closed. Dojima-san will be happy at least, even if he will be a little pissed off at first." she said, and Harry looked at her in askance. She smiled wryly and shook her head. "People have been disappearing from the town over the last year, and though we caught the misguided culprit, people are still on edge about it. You went missing, and people started to panic, thinking that maybe it wasn't over after all. We will have to make up a story about you getting up early and going with a friend into the city or something of the like, considering the time of your 'disappearance'. Dojima-san will have to know the truth, though." she said musingly, and Harry's stomach dropped. He really should have just asked the other teens to help him explore this world. Now he was going to be in a world of trouble for disappearing without telling anyone.

"Well then, let's head back so I can face the music." Harry said with a sigh, and the others nodded. The all made their way slowly through the Pseudo-Hogwarts, killing any shadows they found along the way. When they finally got back to the entrance, the other teens led the way back to the television studio area and Hanamura stuck his head through the stack of t.v.s before pronouncing it clear for them to go through. Harry could only thank Merlin that the electronics department here didn't seem to have surveillance cameras, otherwise these teens would probably have had a lot of explaining to do, and he probably never would have awoken and left that world because they most likely wouldn't have been allowed to go back.

The teens went their separate ways after that, though Harry went with Narukami so they could show the apparently worried DCI that he was, in fact, unharmed. Harry winced; the man, from the impression he'd gotten when he formerly met him, was strict, and was probably unpleasant when angry. He'd just have to endure it like he had endured everything else that went to crap in his life. Like daily life when Snape was around. With that last amusing, if unpleasant thought, he followed the silver haired teen to his house, tense with nervous energy at the thought of the inevitable punishment that awaited him.

End Ch.

A/N: Sorry if the action scene was crap. If there was anything you misunderstood, or information you think I forgot to include about Harry's second shadow, please feel free to ask (not anon, please, I can't answer if you do that) in a review or a private message. And yes, I realize that his second Persona is similar to Yamata-no-Orochi. Thing is, I only realized it after the fact, when I remembered it, and by that time, I didn't want to go back and change him into that particular Persona just to make things easier for myself. Besides that, ice makes more sense as a weakness for a snake creature than fire, and I wanted it that way. Oh, and if anyone wanted to know, Veniferous is of the Judgement Arcana and Orochi is of the Strength Arcana. If you want to know why, it's because I looked up the Arcana that coordinated with Harry and Voldemort's birthdays, as the second Persona was technically a result of the piece of Voldemort that resides in Harry, though it can no longer be considered or used as a horcrux as it was absorbed into Harry's own soul. Harry's birthday is July 31st, 1980 and Voldemort's is December 31st, 1927. I did the math for the second one.

P.S. If anyone is wondering why Harry has so much HP and SP even though the game cap is apparently 999 for both, it's because for one, I'm not including the cap in cannon, as if this were real life (which is is to them), they wouldn't reach a cap. Not only that, but Harry's been in that world for 17 years, and despite the fact that he doesn't remember most of it, he most certainly was _not_ idle during that time. What he did there in that time and what happened to him, as well as what happened to the wizarding world will be explained in due time. Just know that I actually do have it vaguely planned out, so at least it won't be a complete cluster-fuck. lol Anyway, love you all. Thanks for reading.

RW


	5. Wrath of the Concerned-Parent Types

A/N: I'd meant this chapter to be a bit more humorous than the rest of this, but really, it didn't happen. Instead, this happened. *Sighs* Well, I'll have to deal with it, because admittedly, I don't hate it. It's just different than what I'd imagined it would be. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, but I suppose if you don't, that's fine too. Just don't bitch to me about it because I really don't care. This is how it came out and I'm not going to change it for you or anyone. The story is writing itself, and right now even _I_ don't know where it's going to go. I don't have anything concrete planned, but I can tell you that if I did, it wouldn't happen the way I wanted it to anyway. Bitching will not change anything, and it will certainly _not_ make me change my story, so don't bother. Like I said earlier, enjoy it or don't.

RW

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**Ch. 5: Wrath of the Concerned-Parent Types** (lol)

Harry felt dread settle like a weight in his stomach as they arrived at the Dojima household. He'd never had parents, nor had he had anyone that he really looked to as a parent. Mrs. Weasley was Ron's mum, and nothing more. Not only that, she was overbearing as well. He had never needed anyone to look after him before, and so he was dreading whatever Dojima cooked up for him; he'd had to deal with adults who had punished him 'for his own good' before, and he always ended up worse for it; especially when meddling old men with twinkling eyes were involved. He swore that if they tried to confine him 'for his own good' for this, he was going to go crazy and do something that he knew he'd regret.

Like screaming into the face of the person who had admittedly helped him out just a few days ago, seeing as he now legally had nothing. He could always go into crime, he mused. It wouldn't be hard seeing as he'd seen no sign of magicals out here that would recognize what he was doing, and his magic registered him as 31, so he didn't have to worry about the under-age restriction either. Not only that; he knew of a handy dark spell that would erase any trace of his magic from the crime scenes, making it impossible to trace back to him unless he were found with the stolen items and/or money, which would be a stupid and amateur mistake on his part anyway. His criminal musings were cut short by the clearing of a throat.

Startled, he looked up to see the man he'd been dreading looking at him sternly. It seems that Narukami had explained the situation while he was off in la-la land. Before he could say a word, Dojima spoke.

"Would you care to explain to me just _why_ you decided it was a good idea to explore a strange and dangerous world by yourself without letting anyone know? You had the whole town in a panic, thinking that the kidnappings and possibly murders were starting up again after we had told them the case was closed." he said sternly, and Harry bit down his automatic response, which heavily consisted of insults, sarcasm, anger, and a declaration that he wasn't a child and he could look after himself seeing as he'd done so his whole life. It was not the best idea to antagonize the highest point of authority in this small town, and he was glad that he had stopped himself from speaking without thinking.

He didn't trust adults or authority figures as far as he could throw them, and this man was no exception. They could do what they wanted and he would be helpless to stop it. He had the sudden horrifying idea that the man would make him do community service as a free helper at a daycare for young children if he did decide he wanted to antagonize him. Just the headaches that would cause alone were enough to make him think before he spoke to someone that basically controlled his fate. He had a feeling that this man wasn't one to let someone just starve and die on the streets, so he wouldn't go for deprivation as a punishment, but Harry was sure he could think up many creative punishments for the unruly.

Things that would make you never want to be caught misbehaving again. Like being forced to deal with small, dirty, screaming children that all wanted your attention at once, or being made to go shopping with the women of the town and being made to help carry their loads of bags back to their cars or houses. Or even, he shuddered, being used as a mannequin to put cloth over while unskilled women with needles tried to make clothes. His body tingled unpleasantly just thinking of all the small pinpricks he'd have to endure. He decided that partial truth, an apology, and maybe the sympathy card would be his best bet here.

"I'm sorry to have worried you all. I'm used to being independent; the last time I asked for help from an adult I was ignored, and I had to take matters into my own hands, and it almost resulted in the death of one of my friends. The people I was living with before I disappeared frankly didn't care if I lived or died, and sometimes I suspected that they actively hoped I would die. The point is I'm not used to having anyone care where I go or what I do as long as I don't cause trouble for them. I didn't want to ask your nephew or his friends to go with me because frankly, I've already put too many other people in danger in my lifetime, and I would rather something happened to me than them." Harry said quietly, and truthfully. Dojima was silent for a few moments, before he sighed.

"It's fine, but we'll need to make up an excuse as to why you disappeared when you did without telling anyone and why you weren't where you were supposed to be this morning. I have a feeling that if you tell them what you told me about your former home they will understand why you left without telling anyone. As for where you were...well, we can work on that. Now, if I may ask, just what was it that you wanted to accomplish with this little stunt?" he asked, and Harry rubbed the back of his neck, thinking quickly before answering. He didn't think that the man would be very impressed if he told him that he'd just wanted to explore the place, which was unfortunately the truth. He decided that a partial truth was in order.

"I was just trying to find clues as to what happened to me. I figured if anywhere, they would be in that world. If I can find the reason for it, maybe I can find out who did it if someone is behind it and find out why they did it. It would give me some peace of mind, if nothing else." Harry said, and even as he said it he found that it actually sounded like a good idea, and he resolved to actually do so the next time he entered that world.

"Did you find anything?" Dojima asked him curiously, and Harry shook his head.

"Unfortunately, I didn't really find anything of use. The only thing I found was a really strong monster that wanted to disembowel me." Harry said sourly, a bit annoyed that he'd had to face his 'other self' when he already had a Persona. Dojima blinked and then looked at him in askance.

"You're going to have to explain that one." he said, and Harry sighed.

"Besides in general terms, has anyone ever really explained to you what happens in that other world, or even what these monsters are?" Harry asked, and Dojima shook his head.

"I've only really just started to believe it all. I didn't want to hear anything about something I believed was nonsense when they would have had time to do so." he said, and Harry looked over to Narukami, who was quietly following the conversation between the two with a vaguely amused look on his face.

"Can you explain then? You've experienced a bit more of this than me and you could explain it better than I could." Harry said, and with a small quirk of his lips, Narukami nodded.

"Yes. The monsters he was referring to are called shadows, and they are products of the human mind. They are made of thoughts, desires, and all manner of other things that come from the human mind. The monster he was referring to specifically, the one that wanted to disembowel him," here, Narukami paused with a small smirk in Harry's direction, to which Harry replied with a scowl. "was a product of his own mind. When one confronts their own shadow, it is usually made up of undesired parts of one's personality that they wish to push away and not acknowledge. These parts then form a shadow in this other world.

"Usually, as these are parts of the person that the person did not want to acknowledge and pushed away in the first place, the shadows are angry at the other parts of themselves for casting them away. The person, when confronted by the shadow, will usually deny having anything to do with the creatures. This denial, for reasons yet unknown to us, gives them strength, though it is usually taken from the person in question, which is why it's so hard for someone to beat their shadow on their own. Harry found, or was found by the shadow that had started to develop in that world as a result of him denying a part of himself. This is why that world is so dangerous.

"If someone is left alone and unsupervised in that world, with no protection against the shadows, they will be attacked en-masse by the things as soon as the fog decides it wants to disappear in that world, which coincides with when it gets foggy around Inaba. The shadows go more wild than usual and will attack anything, even each other, when the fog disappears. The shadows that are a more direct and somewhat intentional result of a person, such as parts of yourself that you want to push away, are generally stronger, and will sometimes choose to attack whether the fog is lifted in that world or not; That all depends, however, on the attitude of the person in question.

"If that person comes to accept that part of themselves before confronted by it, it may be that the thing will not attack them. That is just a theory, however. More than likely a person needs outside help to accept something that they originally rejected in the first place. If you can beat the shadow, with or without help, you gain your shadow back as a part of you, and you can summon it as a Persona. You can then use this Persona and its skills to battle other shadows and help others if they happen to end up in that world. However, if you are not strong enough to win, your shadow will kill you and become stronger for it." Narukami said gravely, and Dojima looked at him seriously.

"Did you ever have to watch this happen?" he asked, and Narukami shook his head.

"No; the only reason we know this, or at least deduced it, is because the more human-like shadows can talk, and they alluded to it." he said seriously, and Dojima looked grave for a minute as he looked toward his daughter's bedroom where she was still asleep.

"Did Nanako have to face her shadow too? Is that why she's like this?" he asked, and Narukami shook his head, but he looked troubled.

"No, but...when we went to find her we kept hearing her inner thoughts. She wanted to see her mother so badly that her world in the television was her version of heaven. She kept trying to convince herself that she wasn't lonely. It was the most heartbreaking thing I've ever heard." Narukami said quietly, and though Harry felt a pang in his heart for the little girl, he couldn't help but be afraid of what they might have heard from his thoughts. However, he felt it was neither the time nor place to question the other teen about it, seeing as concern for a young and obviously adored family member was prominent in the minds of both of the other males at the moment.

Loathe as Harry was to break the somber mood and bring up his misdeed again, he knew it would eventually be remembered anyway. That, and the fact that he invariably needed help to come up with a suitable cover made him reluctantly speak up again.

"I really hate to bring this up in light of what you two are obviously thinking about, but we still need to come up with a cover story as for why I wasn't found this morning." Harry said, effectively breaking the two somber males out of their thoughts. Well, for a second, anyway, as it seemed he had given them something else to think about. As Harry's eyes fell on Narukami again, a thought occurred to him that he'd forgotten about over the last few days. "Tutoring!" Harry blurted out, and then turned red from embarrassment as the other two turned to look at him questioningly, before Dojima's expression morphed into a look of comprehension.

"Of course! I had offered to ask Yu if he would tutor you! I can't believe I'd forgotten!" Dojima said, and Narukami looked at his uncle questioningly.

"What does he need tutoring in?" Narukami asked, and Harry felt his face heat up again.

"Pretty much everything." Harry grumbled in answer, and when Narukami looked at him for more clarification, Dojima answered instead.

"He knows the language pretty well, although there are still some words you may need to teach him. He doesn't have any particular accent, so there are some words he will have missed out on in whatever tutoring he took part in to learn the language. I also assume by what he has said that he will need help in all of the areas of study the school has to offer as well. I want you to do some basic testing and see where he is in those areas so we will know how much work has to be done to get him up to school standard for the beginning of the next school year." Dojima said in a business-like tone, and Narukami nodded.

"That's fine. As long as Potter-san does not object, we may start right away." he said, and Harry nodded, before a thought struck him.

"Oh, he missed one thing. I'll need a little help with something along the lines of cultural studies too, if that's alright with you. Despite the fact that I somehow know your language, I unfortunately do _not_ know anything about your culture. I certainly don't want to end up insulting or offending someone and not know that I've done so until it's too late to fix the problem without further hostility. I don't need any more enemies than I already have." Harry said fervently, and Narukami nodded in understanding while Dojima looked slightly confused. "Anyway, I think we've gotten a bit off topic. Would it be safe to say that the people who were looking for me did not check every house?" he asked, looking at Dojima as he was the more likely of the two to know the details.

"Yes; we could feasibly say that you were here studying, and that I hadn't realized it as I go in to work early in the morning. You could feasibly have gotten up after that and come here, before anyone else in the orphanage was awake. I could then have found you downstairs after I left work to check on Nanako, and could report it back to the office. If anyone saw you walking in Junes, you could always say that you had decided to go there for an early dinner and you'd changed your minds at the last minute. Not only that, but even if Yu was seen around today, I know he wasn't one of the ones questioned." Dojima said musingly, and Narukami nodded in agreement.

"I was actually spending time with Rise at first when we discovered the rumors about someone disappearing. It was unsurprisingly Naoto-chan who uncovered them and texted us all with the news, although the rumors said nothing about who it was for sure. We were actually expecting to have to investigate on our own, but then you called not too long after and gave us the full story." he said, and Harry got the feeling that the fact that he didn't include a suffix at the end of Kujikawa's name was significant. Judging by the look on Dojima's face, he was correct. This was confirmed as his uncle spoke up.

"I see you've gotten close to Ms. Kujikawa. Anything I should know about?" he asked in a teasing tone that Harry almost didn't think the man capable of, given his usually strict and straightforward attitude. Narukami had a slight blush suffusing his face as he answered.

"We have recently decided to start seeing each other, and even though we spent Christmas evening together, she wanted to spend the day after with me as well." he said, a slight smile gracing his face at the thought of his fairly new girlfriend. Dojima for his part looked happy that his nephew had found happiness, and Harry tried to fight down the sudden surge of jealousy that shot through him. It was not as if he desired Kujikawa on any level. He'd just met the girl days ago, after all. It was more of the fact that he had realized during his fourth year that he would never have a normal relationship due to his celebrity status and his personal projection of his life expectancy, though it had recently gone up due to the events of the last few days.

He was jealous that the other teen had something that Harry himself never expected to have. He knew that he shouldn't be, considering the fact that his new circumstances allowed for him to be a normal, non-famous teenager for once; one that wasn't the victim of annual attempts on his life for a change. He knew now, logically, that his prospects of dating had gone up, but he really couldn't bring himself to feel excited about it as that opened up a whole new can of worms. Namely: How do you go about getting a girlfriend without looking like a complete arse? He'd obviously never learned about that sort of thing, as he'd never had the time for it.

The only person who he would have considered going to for advice on such a thing was either dead now or thought he was dead, which was a largely depressing thought. He really wished he could ask old Padfoot for advice, but as of now he had to assume that he couldn't. That left him still standing at square 1 and probably looking stupid while doing so. He shook himself out of his thoughts quickly, turning his attention back to the other two who had continued conversation while he'd gotten lost in thoughts.

"Well, I didn't really have to face my shadow." Narukami said, and Harry got the gist of what they'd been talking about, although it also raised another question. Did he have to face his original shadow before he gained its power? If so, what was it like? What other part of himself had he been hiding? Oh, wait; he remembered Ven saying something about his having fought its physical form before, in the Chamber of Secrets. Was that the truth, or was Ven only speculating? Harry didn't know, but he did know that Ven was a part of him and he really had no reason to lie to himself. But really, what part of his psyche had Ven been? If he was correct, then Harry had to have pushed something else besides his Slytherin side away at that time.

He suddenly remembered, though. He had pushed it away again, thus forming a part of his second shadow, but he remembered how Ven was originally created now, or rather what thoughts and feelings he'd pushed away to cause him. Hatred and pure, unadulterated rage aimed at his relatives for the way they had treated him over the whole time he'd had to stay there. Particularly during those first 10 years. He now understood why he'd pushed it away. It frightened him; even now he was terrified of what he might do with that much anger aimed at his abusers. He could only imagine what feeling that would be like to a young child, which he had been when he first locked that part of himself away.

Some of it was now a part of Ven, but the vast majority had gone to Orochi after he'd finally been accepted. Even before that, the shadow could also feel his rage and disgust at the wizarding world. The shadow had spouted those things which he had never dared to think about before, and the thought that a part of _him_ was capable of feeling that way almost sickened him. Sure, he'd had fleeting desires to bring the wizarding world to heel, but they'd never gone beyond that. They hadn't even reached the daydream stage. He wasn't a monster, right? He wasn't like Voldemort. Voldemort was evil, plain and simple. Harry was just disgusted with the way that world worked; there was definitely a difference. There had to be.

"Did you have to face your shadow, Potter-san?" Dojima asked him seriously, and the concern in his voice made Harry pause for a moment before he shook himself and answered.

"Well; my situation was an odd one like your nephew's was. I _did_ have to face mine, but only the...second one was anything recent, I suppose. I don't know how to explain it, but I had two, and I suppose that I'd already faced the first one when I was far younger. I don't remember much of it, but I remember beating it and not realizing what I had done at the time. I hadn't actually gained the power of Persona until I got trapped in that world; it's odd, now that I think about it. I was young, but I should have been old enough to realize that the incident wasn't the end of it." Harry said darkly, forgetting for a moment that anyone else was in the room with him. Narukami brought him to his senses again when he went on to explain more that Harry had left out.

"He faced his second one just about an hour or two ago. We arrived just in time to help him beat it." Narukami said seriously, and Dojima's concern seemed to crank up a notch.

"You all aren't hurt, right? You've at least healed yourselves?" he asked, looking at the two of them. Narukami nodded, but Harry ignored the question. He was fine. He didn't need healing. He was just sore and tired. Harry couldn't help thinking that he probably never would have beat his shadow if it weren't for the other teens, but he decided not to say anything. He'd taken enough flak over the years for getting himself involved in dangerous events that were way out of his league; he _really_ didn't need any more grief about it. He was strong enough to handle himself in most of these situations by now, but he knew that people around him wouldn't see it that way. Especially considering that he really would have died in this most recent one if not for the appropriate timing of unexpected allies.

All in all, he decided to keep his mouth shut about how much overwhelming power his newest Persona must have, considering the fact that Orochi himself took 8 other teens besides himself to take down. Dojima seemed to take his nephew's confirmation as his as well, and he wasn't about to complain about that. Harry almost laughed suddenly, and his head started swimming. He didn't know what brought it on; he was suddenly exhausted and hysterical. He found the fact that anyone cared that he was injured increasingly hilarious, and it was all he could do to stay standing with a straight face. He had to cover his mouth to keep from bursting with it, and that's when the other two seemed to notice that something was wrong. It felt like the sick, giddy feeling that was overcoming him wasn't his at all.

For a moment, he feared that Voldemort had somehow gotten into his mind, that the persona was just Voldemort in disguise, and he had let his defenses down for it to get into him, but as his strength waned and he fell to his knees, he no longer cared. As he put his hands in front of him to keep from falling on his face, the laughter burst from him, sounding more like a madhouse escapee than anything that had ever originated from him before. The other two looked sufficiently alarmed at this, keeping a safe distance from him and looking hesitant to try to approach.

Unnoticed through the sound of his laughter, a small girl had awoken, wondering what was going on and coming out to investigate. She looked to the laughing boy first, and then to her dad and big bro. No one else was doing anything but staring, and she was getting tired of being ignored.

"What's going on? Have you been drinking again?" she asked, making herself heard over the laughing as she glared at her dad. The two non-laughing males turned to her in surprise, and her dad opened his mouth to speak. Before he could though, the laughing boy stopped laughing and spoke first.

"He hasn't been drinking; don't worry about it. He just told me something I thought was really funny. Turns out it wasn't as funny as I thought it was." the boy said, smiling at her. She shrugged; boys were weird.

"Okay. I'm going out to get stuff for dinner. I'll be back in an hour." She said to her dad and cousin, ignoring the boy on the floor as she got her shoes and coat on and left. Once she was gone, Harry's smile dropped. Hesitantly, Narukami spoke.

"Potter-san…are you…okay?" he asked, getting no closer than he had been earlier.

"Honestly, no. I don't think I am." Harry said, shaking his head.

"What…what the hell was that?!" Dojima asked, his anger covering the wavering of his voice. "Just what was that about?!"

Harry looked a little lost. He had a theory, but he wasn't sure it was one that he wanted to share. Not really. Seriously, how do you tell someone who's done so much for you that you think your newest monster (that lives in your HEAD) has a psychopathic, insane personality that's taking over yours? He had a feeling that the little piece of soul he shared with Voldemort was affecting him more than he might like to think. Instead, he shook his head and lied.

"I don't know what it is, but I feel fine now. I think I'm just hysterical and exhausted. That, combined with the fact that I'm not thinking straight probably led to the episode you just saw. I think that standing here thinking about my past is only amplifying the problem. I just need some rest." Harry tried to assure them, attempting to stand and failing as he fell back to his knees. The other two looked a bit less hesitant now, and Dojima actually helped to pick him up and put him in one of the kitchen chairs.

"If you don't mind my asking, what was it that you thought was so funny? Even in your previous state, you have to remember." Narukami said, frowning. Harry shook his head and smiled, but answered anyway.

"I just found it funny that anyone would care I was injured. It's not something I'm used to." Harry said with a shrug, making it sound like a casual statement. For Dojima though, it was very telling; there had been suspicions about the kid's relatives back when he'd disappeared. It looked like this was more evidence to support the fact that the family was emotionally abusive to him if nothing else. His nephew's frown, however, deepened.

"We're decent people; of course we would care if you were injured! What kind of people wouldn't?" he asked indignantly, and Harry looked at him blankly.

"Everyone that I knew; the only time I ended up in the hospital wing was when I was close to death. Other than that, no one really cared." He said, and he shook his head. Why was he telling these people this? They didn't need to know such personal things. Narukami, on the other hand, seemed only to get angrier with every word he spoke.

"Close to death?!" it seemed he could articulate no more, and it didn't look like Dojima was any better. Harry shrugged, misinterpreting their anger.

"Honestly, that was only what they said. I didn't really think I needed to be there either, but they wouldn't let me go." He said, annoyed. The nephew and uncle looked at one another simultaneously; the kid was clearly understating his injuries. Dojima had seen the attitude before in neglected and abused kids, and this behavior coincided with that. Yu, on the other hand, was having a hard time believing what he was hearing. It took a lot of effort on his part _not_ to completely freak out. He had a habit of worrying about his friends, and Harry was fast becoming one. To hear something like this was distressing to him. His friend was used to being seriously hurt, and was in constant denial about how bad it really was.

Then there was the fact that he'd been set off to laughing for no reason just earlier. Yu didn't believe the reason Harry'd given; at least, not entirely. He believed his friend when he said he wasn't used to people caring, but even something like that didn't cause that level of hysteria. Yu was thinking along the lines that it was something much more recent; something that affected his mental health to a severe degree. He was hoping that it wasn't the incident with the kid's shadow; they hadn't seen everything. They hadn't heard everything that the shadow had said to the kid, but from what they'd heard about the kid's early life on the way to him, he'd had a horrible life early on, and it only got marginally better as he got older. Harry had given valid reasons, sure; he'd even pointed out that he was tired and wasn't thinking straight, but somehow, Yu felt that it wasn't the full truth.

He wanted to help his friend, but he didn't know how. Then again, maybe he was reading too much into it. Maybe the kid was right, and he just needed some sleep. He shook his head; standing here thinking about it wasn't going to get him anywhere.

"Maybe you should get some rest if you're tired. It's a normal symptom of what you just went though, and the hysteria could be a symptom of emotional trauma, which would result in, as you said, being confronted by your past. I think we need to notify the orphanage that we've found you, and you need to go get a decent amount of rest." Narukami said, and Dojima nodded in agreement.

"I'll go call them; we can take Potter-san back when he feels up to it." He said, and Harry just nodded. He certainly hoped that all he needed was a little sleep. He knew for sure that he _didn't_ need to be going insane; he definitely didn't need Voldemort's soul shard in his head, possibly influencing his mind. With the power he had now, plus the magic he already had, he was certainly going to be a force to be reckoned with. He wanted to be in possession of all of his mental faculties so that he wouldn't end up as a mess that someone else had to clean up. He'd dealt with that with Voldemort on a daily basis. Voldemort was the mess that resulted in one child being both amazingly powerful and being mentally, if not even physically abused for the whole of his early life.

That, added to the circumstances of his birth and the insanity that ran in his family resulted in one seriously messed up child with power to spare, and he became the mess that life had dictated early on he would be. Insane, powerful, and very sadistic, Voldemort had done what he wanted when he wanted to do it. He'd gone into the darkest magics and done the most evil of things, and then he turned his attention to the wizarding world, and no one escaped entirely unscathed once that had happened. Harry still wondered what they had done about him. He didn't see Voldemort's influence anywhere around here, and he knew that Voldemort wouldn't want to stop at just Britain. He would move on and slowly devour the world, weather to rule it or destroy it.

Seeing as they weren't worshipping him, nor was everything in ruins, Harry assumed that someone had stopped him; it was just a question of _who_, and _how_ they stopped him. He shook his head to clear it; this wasn't getting him anywhere. Thinking about it would only depress him again. He knew there was no chance of him getting back to his own time. He suddenly wondered how Ron and Hermione were doing, if they were even still alive. If they were, they were old enough to have children of their own by now. What would they be like? Who would Ron have married? Who would Hermione have married? Harry almost wanted to go back to see, but he knew that, as fickle as the wizarding world was, they would blame him for leaving no matter what he said. As much as it hurt him, he didn't think he could go back. Not until he was old enough to defend himself at any rate.

Maybe he'd go back once he was physically old enough to legally be allowed to do magic; he'd have a better grasp on using his Personas if nothing else, so he could get himself out quickly if they tried to hold him against his will. He sighed, aggravated at himself; he couldn't stop himself from getting lost in his thoughts today, and judging by the look Narukami had on his face, it had been noticed.

"Sorry; I keep losing myself in my thoughts. I keep thinking about home; about what everyone's done or how they are. I wouldn't know unless I went back, but I don't think I'm ready for that yet. I don't know if I ever will be." Harry said sadly, and Narukami nodded in understanding.

"For now, let's take this one step at a time, Potter-san. Step one consists of getting you rested and up to scratch for all of the work I'm going to put you through to catch you up to where you need to be. After that, well, we'll just have to see, but I would imagine step two involving the actual work. Once you've got your life here established and working, you can get through school and graduated before you even _think_ of going on any trips. After that, you'll have us to turn to; we won't let you face your past alone, Potter-san." Narukami said, the corner of his mouth curling up into a smile. Harry couldn't help but smile back. Somehow, he knew he'd made friends that he couldn't easily get rid of, for better or for worse.

**End Ch.**

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A/N: This chapter is definitely different than anything I thought it would be. It's a little weird, honestly, but I'm not rewriting it. *Sighs* The next chapter is mainly going to be a flashback of the dungeon, but it will have some plot. I've just got to get my lazy ass to writing it.


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